Freeman Dyson's Challenge for the Future - The Story of Ramanujan's Mock Theta Functions

Document Type

Presentation Abstract

Presentation Date

9-17-2007

Abstract

In his last letter to Hardy, Ramanujan defined 17 peculiar functions which are now referred to as his mock theta functions. Although these mysterious functions have been investigated by many mathematicians over the years, many of their most basic properties remained unknown.

This inspired Freeman Dyson to proclaim:

The mock theta-functions give us tantalizing hints of a grand synthesis still to be discovered. Somehow it should be possible to build them into a coherent group theoretical structure... This remains a challenge for the future.

--Freeman Dyson, 1987

After recalling the story of the enigmatic Ramanujan, we describe the solution to Dyson's "challenge for the future", and we indicate some of the consequences of this new theory.

Additional Details

Monday, 17 September 2007
10:00 a.m. in University Center North Ballroom

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