# Mathematical Sciences Research Institute

Home » Discrete Rigidity Phenomena in Additive Combinatorics

# Workshop

Discrete Rigidity Phenomena in Additive Combinatorics November 03, 2008 - November 07, 2008
 Registration Deadline: October 31, 2008 over 5 years ago August 03, 2008 over 5 years ago
Organizers Ben Green (University of Cambridge), Bryna Kra (Northwestern University), Emmanuel Lesigne (University of Tours), Anthony Quas (University of Victoria), Mate Wierdl (University of Memphis)
Speaker(s)

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Description

We explore environments in which rigid structural information can be deduced from rather soft combinatorial hypotheses. There will be a particular focus on finite and quantitative questions, although an important aspect of the workshop will be to explore connections with corresponding infinite and qualitative questions in ergodic theory, where as a general rule more is known. Topics include (but are not be limited to) the following.

1. Freiman's theorem concerning the structure of sets with small doubling;
2. The Gowers Inverse Conjecture, concerning the structure of sets containing many parallelepipeds;
3. Finite versions of Ratner's theorem, concerning the structure of finite unipotent orbits in dynamical systems.

Accommodations: A block of rooms has been reserved at the Rose Garden Inn. Reservations may be made by calling 1-800-992-9005 OR directly on their website. Click on “Reservations and Availability” then click on “Corporate” at the bottom of the screen and enter the word “math”. Enter Group Code CGMS67 in the “Guest Comment” box, and provide requested information The cut-off date for reservations is October 17, 2008. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hotel Durant. Please mention the workshop name and reference the following code when making reservations via phone, fax or e-mail: BQ0000. The cut-off date for reservations is October 3, 2008.

Funding & Logistics

## Show Funding

To apply for funding, you must register by the funding application deadline displayed above.

Students, recent Ph.D.'s, women, and members of underrepresented minorities are particularly encouraged to apply. Funding awards are typically made 6 weeks before the workshop begins. Requests received after the funding deadline are considered only if additional funds become available.

## Show Lodging

MSRI has preferred rates at the Rose Garden Inn, depending on room availability. Reservations may be made by calling 1-800-992-9005 OR directly on their website. Click on Corporate at the bottom of the screen and when prompted enter code MATH (this code is not case sensitive). By using this code a new calendar will appear and will show the MSRI rate on all room types available.

MSRI has preferred rates at the Hotel Durant. Reservations may be made by calling 1-800-238-7268. When making reservations, guests must request the MSRI preferred rate. If you are making your reservations on line, please go to this link and enter the promo/corporate code MSRI123. Our preferred rate is $129 per night for a Deluxe Queen/King, based on availability. MSRI has preferred rates of$149 - $189 plus tax at the Hotel Shattuck Plaza, depending on room availability. Guests can either call the hotel's main line at 510-845-7300 and ask for the MSRI- Mathematical Science Research Inst. discount; or go to www.hotelshattuckplaza.com and click Book Now. Once on the reservation page, click “Promo/Corporate Code“ and input the code: msri. MSRI has preferred rates of$110 - \$140 at the Berkeley Lab Guest House, depending on room availability. Reservations may be made by calling 510-495-8000 or directly on their website. Select “I am an individual traveler affiliated with MSRI”.

Additional lodging options may be found on our short term housing page.

## Show Visa/Immigration

Schedule
Nov 03, 2008
Monday
 09:00 AM - 09:45 AM Discrete Rigidity Phenomena Ben Green (University of Cambridge) 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM Uniform spectral gap bounds Alexander Gamburd (University of California, Santa Cruz) 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM How does one recognize a nilsequence? Bernard Host 02:15 PM - 03:00 PM Sum-Product and Character Sums in finite fields Mei-Chu Chang (University of California)
Nov 04, 2008
Tuesday
 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM A strong Tits Alternative and Arithmetic Heights Emmanuel Breuillard (Université Paris-Sud (Orsay)) 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM Growth in SL3 Harald Helfgott 01:45 PM - 02:30 PM Randomness Extractors Avi Wigderson 02:35 PM - 03:20 PM Freiman-type theorems in nonabelian groups Tom Sanders 03:45 PM - 04:30 PM Multiple recurrence along the shifted primes Tamar Ziegler
Nov 05, 2008
Wednesday
 09:00 AM - 09:45 AM Rigidity of unipotent joinings in positive characteristic Manfred Einsiedler (ETH Zürich) 10:15 AM - 11:00 AM Inverse Theorems and Inapproximability Ryan O'Donnell 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM On stationary measures and random walks on tori. Elon Lindenstrauss (Hebrew University)
Nov 06, 2008
Thursday
 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Eigenvalue multiplicity and growth of groups James Lee 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM The horocycle flow and primes Adrian Ubis 01:45 PM - 02:30 PM Extension of Selberg's theorem and sieving in Jean Bourgain (Institute for Advanced Study) 02:35 PM - 03:20 PM Uniform distribution and Hecke Operators Akshay Venkatesh (Stanford University) 04:00 PM - 04:45 PM Additive Combinatorics and Piecewise Bohr Subsets of N Hillel Furstenberg (Hebrew University)
Nov 07, 2008
Friday
 10:00 AM - 10:45 AM Decompositions into polynomial phase functions Julia Wolf 11:15 AM - 12:00 PM A Boosting proof of the weak regularity lemma Luca Trevisan 01:45 PM - 02:30 PM Graph norms and Sidorenko's conjecture Hamed Hatami 02:35 PM - 03:20 PM Distribution of Orbits on NIlmanifolds Terence Tao (University of California, Los Angeles)