The XXXIInd Courant Lectures - Part I

Time and Location:

April 06, 2017 at 2PM; Warren Weaver Hall, Room 109

Speaker:

Professor Avi Wigderson, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

In this talk I will describe the "Operator Scaling" algorithm, a new technique to efficiently solve a certain non-convex optimization problem. I will explain the remarkable diversity of connections (of both the problem solved and the analysis of the algorithm) with commutative and non-commutative algebra, analysis, computational complexity, optimization, quantum information theory, and other areas. Based on joint works with Ankit Garg, Leonid Gurvits and Rafael Olivera.