Orateur
Daniel Martin
(Clemson University)
Description
The generalized Markoff equation gives rise to a dynamical system via the Markoff group action on its solution set. Over finite fields, the action produces graphs that are conjectured by Bourgain, Gamburd, and Sarnak to form an expander family. This conjecture has implications in both number theory (strengthening the affine linear sieve for Markoff numbers) and computational group theory (bounding runtime of the Product Replacement Algorithm for SL_2(F_p)). In this talk, we discuss recent progress toward proving connectivity of Markoff graphs and related results on Nielsen graphs of matrix pairs from SL_2(F_p).