Speaker: Alvaro Lozano-Robledo (UConn)
Title: From Diophantus to Bitcoin: why are elliptic curves everywhere?
Abstract: Elliptic curves are ubiquitous in number theory, algebraic geometry, complex analysis, cryptography, physics, and beyond. They were present in Diophantus’ Arithmetica (3rd century AD) and, nowadays, they are more relevant than ever as a key ingredient in the algorithms that, for instance, secure Bitcoin transactions or encrypt WhatsApp messages. In this talk, we will introduce elliptic curves, explain their central role in mathematics, and discuss related open problems and applications.
