Meet the Lecturer – Ramiro Lafuente

We talk to Dr Ramiro Lafuente about the language Einstein used to state his famous theory of General Relativity, and the importance of events like AMSI Summer School

1. How do you explain your work and it’s real-world impact to people outside of the mathematical sciences?

Most of my research focuses in a field of Pure Mathematics called Riemannian geometry. This field studies the geometry of “higher dimensional spaces”, using tools from differentiable calculus and tensor algebra. It was the language which allowed Einstein to state his celebrated theory of General Relativity. More specifically, one of the topics I am interested in is the Ricci flow equation. This is an evolution equation for the geometry of a space, and has attracted a lot of attention in recent years due to the fact that it was the main ingredient used by Perelman in his proof of the 100-years-old Poincare conjecture.

2. What drives your interest in this field? What do you consider your biggest achievement to date?

My biggest achievement to date is perhaps the complete understanding of the long-time behaviour of homogeneous Ricci flow solutions. This was obtained in a joint work with Prof. Christoph Böhm while I was a postdoc in Münster, Germany.

3. What are the next intersting “big questions” or challenges you hope to tackle?

I would like to have a better understanding of homogeneous Einstein spaces. These will be discussed towards the end of the course if time permits.

4. If not mathematics research, what would have been?

I would have considered a career in music.

5. Best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

Follow your passions.

6. If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Rock star scientist, master chef, closet artist, what is something about you that might surprise people?

I would like to have an infinite amount of time.

7. Deepening field knowledge and providing a networking platform, why are opportunities such as AMSI Summer School so valuable? What do you hope attendees will take from your lectures?

These are great opportunities for students to get in touch with state-of-the-art research questions and techniques, which is of key importance in the development of science. I hope that all students are able to learn at least some basic differential geometry, which will be of great help for their future careers in a wide range of fields within Mathematics and Physics.

8. If you could be anywhere right now, where would you be?

Right here.

 

Dr Ramiro Lafuente will be presenting the topic Differential Geometry & Symmetry with Dr Romina Arroyo at the 2020 Summer School at La Trobe University in January.