Jerusalem Mathematics Colloquium


Thursday, 22 January 1998, 4:00 pm
Mathematics Bldg., lecture hall 2




Prof. Carolyn Gordon (Dartmouth)


"When you can't hear the shape of a manifold"







Abstract:
When a bounded plane domain is viewed as a drumhead, the eigenvalue spectrum of the Laplacian on the domain determines the characteristic frequencies of vibrations of the drum. Mark Kac's question "Can one hear the shape of a drum?" asks whether two domains with the same eigenvalue spectrum must be congruent. We consider methods of constructing isospectral domains and, more generally, isospectral Riemannian manifolds. We also listen to a computer simulation, produced by Dennis De Turck, of exotic-shaped sound-alike drums.



Please come for Coffee, cookies, and Company at 3:45 pm in room 12 of the mathematics building.



Please come to the "after colloquium coffee chat" in Beit-Belgia.



List of talks, fall 1997