Representation theory and its connection to structural biology
When
4 – 5 p.m., Nov. 14, 2024
Where
Math Building Room 501
Title: Representation theory and its connection to structural biology
Abstract: The goal of this talk is to explain how basic representation theory of compact Lie groups can be very useful for giving insights into mathematical problems at the foundations of cryo-electron microscopy and X-ray crystallography - two important techniques in structural biology. Although they involve quite different experimental setups, mathematically they can be viewed as group orbit recovery problems where the experimental data determines invariant tensors (moments) of the unknown molecular structure. For computational reasons there is particular interest in determining prior conditions on the structure which ensure that the structure can be resolved from moments of low degree. We will discuss recent results in this direction.
(Refreshments will be served in the Math Commons Room at 3:30pm)