Alexander Kolpakov "Space vectors forming rational angles"
Alexander Kolpakov from University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland gave the talk "Space vectors forming rational angles" on the labs' Big Seminar.
Password: first 6 decimal places of $\pi$ after the decimal point
You can also write to Alexander Polyanskii (alexander.polyanskii@yandex.ru) or to Maksim Zhukovskii (zhukmax@gmail.com) if you want to be added to mailing list.
Abstract:
We classify all sets of nonzero vectors in $\mathbb{R}^3$ such that the angle formed by each pair is a rational multiple of $\pi$. The special case of four-element subsets lets us classify all tetrahedra whose dihedral angles are multiples of $\pi$, solving a 1976 problem of Conway and Jones: there are $2$ one-parameter families and $59$ sporadic tetrahedra, all but three of which are related to either the icosidodecahedron or the $B_3$ root lattice. The proof requires the solution in roots of unity of a $W(D_6)$-symmetric polynomial equation with $105$ monomials (the previous record was only $12$ monomials). This is a joint work with Kiran S. Kedlaya, Bjorn Poonen, and Michael Rubinstein.
Watch the video:
Everyone is invited to attend. The language of the lecture is English. The event is aimed at master and graduate students, as well as researchers in the field of combinatorics.