Grants and Contributions:

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Title:

Modular varieties, generalized Fermat equations, and special functions

Agreement Number:

RGPIN

Agreement Value:

$70,000.00

Agreement Date:

May 10, 2017 -

Organization:

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Location:

British Columbia, CA

Reference Number:

GC-2017-Q1-01582

Agreement Type:

Grant

Report Type:

Grants and Contributions

Additional Information:

Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2022-2023)

Recipient's Legal Name:

Chen, Imin (Simon Fraser University)

Program:

Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Program Purpose:

Number theory, which is motivated by the study of numbers and equations, has existed since the dawn of recorded history. Perhaps because of its fundamental role in mathematics, number theory continues to be an active area of research, with a wide applicability and relevance to applications.

This research program aims to study and answer some fundamental open questions in number theory concerning a natural class of diophantine equations known as modular varieties, with a view towards developing stronger methods for tackling the Fermat-Catalan conjecture, a natural generalization of Fermat's Last Theorem.

The approach is fundamental science and problem motivated but will also involve the development of new methods and theory in the areas of Galois representations, modular symbols, and Frey abelian variety constructions.

In terms of relevance to applications, the proposed research enhances our foundational knowledge concerning elliptic and hyperelliptic curves, number and function fields, as well as explicit aspects of representation theory.

The expertise gained from the fundamental science component of this proposal will also be used to study the application motivated problem of homomorphic encryption and its resistance to quantum algorithms, which is relevant to maintaining privacy in big data applications.