Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Computer Science/Discrete Mathematics Seminar II
10:30am|Simonyi 101 and Remote Access
Topic: 50 Years of Expansion in Groups
Speaker: Avi Wigderson
Affiliation: Institute for Advanced Study
Date: March 24, 02026
I plan to survey the many ways we have today of constructing expanding Cayley graphs of finite groups, and the ideas behind their analysis (some useful beyond that purpose). I want to highlight that despite a comprehensive understanding of achieving this for simple groups, we are far from understanding expansion in non-simple groups. I will present several concrete open questions regarding this.
No special background will be assumed: I plan to provide the group theory and representation theory background needed.
Computer Science/Discrete Mathematics Seminar II
10:30am|Simonyi 101 and Remote Access
Topic: 50 Years of Expansion in Groups
Speaker: Avi Wigderson
Affiliation: Institute for Advanced Study
Date: March 24, 02026
I plan to survey the many ways we have today of constructing expanding Cayley graphs of finite groups, and the ideas behind their analysis (some useful beyond that purpose). I want to highlight that despite a comprehensive understanding of achieving this for simple groups, we are far from understanding expansion in non-simple groups. I will present several concrete open questions regarding this.
No special background will be assumed: I plan to provide the group theory and representation theory background needed.
