10th January: Mads Christensen

Title: Quadratic forms, Theta functions and the Siegel-Weil formula

Abstract: Quadratic forms are essentially just homogeneous polynomials of degree 2, yet they are classical and, still to this day, exciting part of number theory. I will attempt to give an introduction to some of the many ideas which permeate the subject. If time permits, we will look at a fun application towards the Jacobi four square theorem.