But when might a coffee cup not be equivalent to a doughnut?
“Say we have a six-dimensional coffee cup, and we know we can stretch it into a doughnut, but if you’re only allowed to stretch at a constant rate, how long does that take? Manin said. “Can we get a computer to decide whether you can do it?”
In some cases it’s guaranteed that two topologically equivalent objects will easily transform into one another, he said, but in others it’s not possible for even computers to tell whether two are topologically the same. His work examines the transformation in terms of both the geometric complexity (the deformation) and the algorithmic complexity (the computer’s ability to discern equality or lack thereof).
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The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation has announced that 128 early career researchers, including four from the University of California San Diego, have been awarded 2021 Sloan Research Fellowships.
Awarded each year since 1955, Sloan Fellowships honor “extraordinary” researchers in the U.S. and Canada “whose creativity, innovation and research accomplishments make them stand out as the next generation of scientific leaders.”
The new Sloan Research Fellows from UC San Diego are:
Anela Choy, assistant professor of biological oceanography, who studies the structure and function of open ocean and deep-sea food webs.
Brandon Seward, assistant professor of mathematics, who studies combinatorial, geometric and entropic aspects of actions of countable groups, with a focus on the divide between amenable and non-amenable groups.
UK Mathematics Stapleton Named Sloan Research Fellow uky.edu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from uky.edu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Every so often the work of an early career researcher becomes so important, it captures the attention of their professional peers. Recognizing these young scholars of outstanding promise, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation awards Sloan Research Fellowships to support their future breakthroughs and careers as leaders in their fields.
This year, three of those 128 early-career innovators come from UC Santa Barbara. I congratulate Sung Soo Kim, Fedor Manin and Timothy Brandt on this exceptional honor, said Pierre Wiltzius, dean of mathematical, physical and life sciences. With these fellowships, they join a rarefied group of 126 extraordinarily talented young scholars whose research shows great promise. I look forward to learning about the valuable discoveries these awards will support.