Mini-course: Expanders and Applications

Time:09:00:05/06/2015 to  11:15:07/06/2015

Venue/Location: VIASM Lecture Hall B4.

Organisers: Prof. Vu Ha Van (Yale University)

Content:

Time: 9:00 – 11:15, June 15 and June 17, 2015

Morning:

+ 9:00 – 10:00: lecture

+ 10:00 – 10:15: break

+ 10:15 – 11:15: lecture

Location: VIASM Lecture Hall B4.

Lecturer: Prof. Vu Ha Van (Yale University)

Abstract:

An expander graph is a sparse graph that has strong connectivity properties, quantified using vertex, edge or spectral expansion. These graphs play crucial role in graph theory, complexity theory, designs of algorithms, and approximate group theory.

We are going to give a gentle introduction about the topic, proving the most important facts about
expanders and some typical applications. Next, we discuss constructions of expanders, with
relations to recent deep works of Helfgott, Bourgain-Gamburd, and Tao et. al.