<p class="desc_biggest"><br /> <b>Chris Umans, Caltech&nbsp;</b></p> <p class="desc_bigger"><br /> Title: <i>Matrix multiplication via group theory</i></p> <p><br /> Abstract: A famous and consequential open problem in computer science is to design algorithms that multiply <i>n</i> x <i>n</i> matrices in (nearly) <i>n</i>^2 operations. For more than 50 years, the quest for such an &quot;exponent 2&quot; algorithm for matrix multiplication has captured the imagination of computer scientists and mathematicians alike, and it continues to do so today.</p> <p>In this talk I will describe how this algorithmic problem is cast as a mathematically appealing question about tensor rank, and describe a novel approach that imports the problem into the domain of group theory and representation theory. I&#39;ll discuss generalizations to algebraic ob