Graduate Seminar

Chris Lambie-Hanson
Carnegie Mellon University
Title: The Chromatic Number of the Plane: An Unfinished Conversation in Two Acts

Abstract: In this talk, I will introduce the fascinating and still-open problem of determining the chromatic number of the unit-distance graph on the plane and discuss some progress that has been made toward its solution. I will present the best known upper and lower bounds for the chromatic number of the plane and some of its variants and also some recent work suggesting that the solution may depend on the set-theoretic axioms assumed. I will also present two delightful proofs of the De Bruijn-Erdos Compactness Theorem, of considerable interest in its own right.

Date: Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Time: 5:30 pm
Location: Wean Hall 8220
Submitted by:  Brian Kell