In the ’70s, physicists introduced a new type of symmetry – supersymmetry – to address some unresolved issues in particle physics models. Its mathematical foundations involve the representation theory of the associated symmetry groups, called supergroups.

Our aim is to understand fusion rules, which describe how a combination of two physical systems can be broken down into more fundamental building blocks. Although the answer is largely unknown, we can get approximate answers in some cases.

This snapshot compares two techniques of shuffling a deck of cards, asking how long it will take to shuffle the cards until a “well-mixed deck” is obtained. Surprisingly, the number of shuffles can be very different for very similar looking shuffling techniques. 

Differential equations make predictions on the future state of a system given the present. In order to get a sensible prediction, sometimes it is necessary to include randomness in differential equations, taking microscopic effects into account. Surprisingly, despite the presence of randomness, our probabilistic prediction of future states is stable with respect to changes in the surrounding environment, even if the original prediction was unstable. This snapshot will unveil the core mathematical mechanism underlying this “regularisation by noise” phenomenon.

We describe how simple observations related to vectors of length 1 recently led to the proof of an important mathematical fact: the sharp Stein–Tomas inequality from Fourier restriction theory, a pillar of modern harmonic analysis with surprising applications to number theory and geometric measure theory.

Everyone loves a good game, but when the players can access the counterintuitive world of quantum mechanics, watch out!

“God does not play dice with the universe” – Albert Einstein

“Not only does God play dice but… he sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.” – Stephen Hawking