Optimization and Control Seminar, Fall 2007

Extremal Ellipsoids of Convex Bodies and Their Symmetry Properties
Thursday, Sept. 27, 2007, 11:00-12:00 pm SOND 414
- Dr. Osman Guler
Abstract: A convex body K is a compact convex set in $R^n$ which has an interior. It is known that K has a unique circumscribed ellipsoid MVCE(K) and a unique inscribed ellipsoid MVIE(K). The former contains K and has minimum volume, and the latter is contained in K and has maximum volume. The two ellipsoids crop up in many different fields under different disguises. In this talk, we first develop the basic properties the the ellipsoids using semi-infinite programming. The uniqueness of the ellipsoids have the important property that they inherit the symmetry poperties of K. The seond part of the talk will be about the symmetry properties convex bodies and ellipsoids.
 
Monday, Oct. 1, 2007, 11:00-12:00 pm SOND 414
Switching control of transport on a graph (joint with the DE seminar)
- Dr. Tom Seidman
Abstract: We consider a hybrid system (mixed state: discrete and continuous) for which the continuous dynamics model quasilinear transport on a graph and the discrete dynamics model a sequence of control actions. switching between available `modes' of the system. After commenting on the modelling, we show the well- posedness of the system (with switching as data), existence of an optimal control, and "hybrid well-posedness" of a feedback implementation.
 

Past Optimization Seminars