PIMS - Distinguished Speaker Series

Title: An Introduction to the Riemann Hypothesis and Gaps between Primes

Abstract: There is a beautiful connection between the prime numbers and the zeros of Riemann zeta-function in the complex plane, and understanding the distribution of these zeros can lead to remarkable consequences in our understanding of the primes. A famous open problem, known as the Riemann Hypothesis, states that the non-real zeros of the Riemann zeta-function lie on a vertical line. I will motivate this conjecture, describe some evidence for it, and describe some of the consequences it would lead to in our understanding of the primes. In particular, I will describe how to bound on the maximum gap between prime numbers assuming the Riemann Hypothesis which is based on joint work with E. Carneiro (ICTP) and K. Soundararajan (Stanford).

Room or Area: 
M1040

Contact:

Cherie Secrist | cherie.secrist@uleth.ca | (403) 329-2470