Room for infinity and Ivo Terek

infinity

07:42

Hi

Ivo Terek

Hi!

infinity

thanks for your answer! it was really helpful

does operator algebras is part of your research?

Ivo Terek

I'm glad it helped! No, I'm far from that (I'm in differential geometry)... I just read your post and found it fun, so I took some 15 minutes to think about it

infinity

Oh. cool :P

Do you think this area is fun for research?

Ivo Terek

Actually, there's one comment and one meta comment I'd like to make here

meta comment: the proof of the key step was actually the last thing I filled in, it was the hardest part :P

actual comment: your idea of taking balls was unlikely to work because compactness is used more efficiently when you extract a subcover of some cover produced via other assumptions in your problem

I can definitely understand that analysis can be fun sometimes and why people would want to focus their research on that, I just feel that it gets a bit too technical for me sometimes

(but then again, you can't do math without getting your hands dirty, so...)

infinity

07:49

i will keep in mind the actual comment :) about the meta comment- the proof of the key step is amazing..

Ivo Terek

Thanks! I just tried to recycle ideas I had seen before (I'm just finishing taking a functional analysis class myself here, but back in January we were doing a bit of Banach Algebras too)

I hadn't seen the result you were trying to prove before, and I actually wish my professor had given that as a homework at least, it was very reasonable and interesting on its own right

infinity

im taking operator algebras course now

im new to the subject and it seems very nice to me

i started working on a calculus of variations problem with my advisor but it kind of not very interesting to me, so im thinking of changing subject

(hence the questions to you :P )

Ivo Terek

Oh, I see! Calculus of variations done properly also requires some functional analysis too, it seems you can't escape from that

infinity

i like functional analysis very much

i took a course on that but we didn't see banach algebras there

Ivo Terek

(have you seen the first chapter in Gelfand's book? he starts off the bat talking about Banach spaces just to formulate variational derivatives properly)

Banach Algebras should be something like "functional analysis 2", it does seem hard to squeeze in a first course

infinity

07:55

i saw it in a spectral analysis course, but it thought in a very fast and without details there

@IvoTerek exactly, this is called spectral analysis here, but it didn't thought well there

so im glad i took this course about operator algebras so i can see this theory fully

@IvoTerek haven't seen that

Ivo Terek

I'm actually taking this class myself because I wanted to see C*-algebras properly, but we breezed through it :P

This is probably the last analysis class I'll take though, I do need to focus back on geometry

infinity

we are going through this:

math.vanderbilt.edu/peters10/teaching/spring2015/…

Ivo Terek

Yeah, spectral analysis does seem like a pseudonym for functional analysis 2

infinity

maybe it will be useful to you, we just add details :)

@IvoTerek or maybe you'll change direction :-)

Ivo Terek

Thanks! Those notes seem more complete than what I'm following now (people.math.osu.edu/costin.9/7212-2020/FA1.pdf)

Nah, I'm already with my feet too deep in geometry haha

infinity

08:01

yeah i heard that diff geo is a one way street

Ivo Terek

What makes it hard is that you have to know a bit of everything else or else you can't move on in diff geo

My advisor sort of complained about that once... he said that there's not many graduate students in geometry here because when they get to grad school, they have already decided to study something else

infinity

my advisor is also in diff geo area

but im not, so i need to clean away the diff geo from papers i read

this is another reason for me to think of changing subject :P

Ivo Terek

Honestly, I feel that nowadays the only reason to do a PhD in math is if your happiness depends on it

infinity

lol

Ivo Terek

You can't spend grad school doing something you don't like

infinity

08:07

im doing M.A

@IvoTerek i agree!

Ivo Terek

Still applies!

infinity

this is a major part of my wishing to change subject

but changing subject meaning starting from zero again

Ivo Terek

It's better to change during the masters than later

infinity

because i will need to learn another subject again..

@IvoTerek agree

Ivo Terek

how far in are you in the master program?

infinity

08:08

im in my second year

Ivo Terek

about half I'm guessing? it should last 2 years?

infinity

i don't mind adding another semester

@IvoTerek it should last 2 years, but very few finishing in the period of time

Ivo Terek

I see

So you should have like 3 semesters to do it?

infinity

for a lot it takes 3, or at least 2.5

@IvoTerek more like 2

Ivo Terek

It's doable... I did my master's is a little bit less than 2 years, and I spent the whole first year doing classes and some side project almost unrelated to the thesis

infinity

08:10

i can finish my thesis with my current advisor, not really have fun and just finish with it

yeah my first year was also just taking classes

Ivo Terek

Then I panicked, but didn't have to take classes anymore, and focusing 100% on the thesis it was more or less fast

As long as you don't have to keep taking classes, I still think you can change subject and pull this off in a reasonable time

infinity

if i change advisor it means to go for an area like ergodic theory, which i need to learn fast in order to finish the thesis in time

Ivo Terek

Ergodic theory seems more or less hot nowadays

At least that's the impression I get

infinity

yea and from a brief reading of the basics, it is kinda cool

Ivo Terek

The new advisor should be able to suggest nice problems to study

infinity

08:13

it is the analysis i like , not the technical calculus of variations one :P

Ivo Terek

I need to learn the basics too... it's too important to not have some general culture about it

infinity

@IvoTerek yes i already talked with him , he is a very nice guy, kind of new here , only got one student

Ivo Terek

Then make it two haha

infinity

haha :P

yeah im leaning towards it

i shouldn't do something that doesn't interests me

Ivo Terek

Don't worry, eveything will fall into place

I need to try and sleep a bit... my sleeping schedule is totally screwed and it's already 4:15 here

infinity

08:16

he also really tried to think if he can make me not learn too much time before i will be able to start think of his problem

Ivo Terek

It was good talking to you!!

infinity

4:15?! lol

yeah you should get some sleep!

It was really good talking with you too, thanks!

Ivo Terek

That would be helpful from his part!

See ya!

infinity

Bye!

Transcript for

$Mathematics$ Room for infinity and Ivo Terek