EVENT DETAILS AND ABSTRACT

Title: Can you hear the shape of a drum?
Speaker: Perry Kleinhenz
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Abstract:

When you hit a drum it vibrates at a certain set of overtones, or fundamental frequencies. In this talk I'll ask the question: if two drums have the same set of overtones do they have the same shape? I will first discuss how the overtones of a plucked string determine its length. I'll then move on to higher dimensions and state the problem as a partial differential equation. Finally, I'll discuss partial answers to the question, including very recent work, as well as what parts still remain unanswered.