Knot theory and data distribution
Event details
| Date | 23.10.2015 |
| Hour | 14:15 › 15:30 |
| Speaker | Adam Eppendahl (Institute of Cybernetics, Tallinn) |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
Back in the nineties, Bill Roscoe gave a scalable algorithm for passing updates around a distributed database and proved that the algorithm maintains database consistency. The proof goes via an algebraic structure that obeys the rack law used in knot theory. We observe that when the paths of updates are drawn in space-time the connection with knot theory stands out clearly. This leads to a simple topological proof of the original algorithm and to extensions of the algorithm. The applications to concurrency actually suggest a weaker theory of demi-racks, which may be related to directed homotopies (although I’m not sure about this). Both the knot theory and database model are very elementary, so computer scientists should be able to follow the maths and mathematicians, the computer science. The interest lies in the simplicity of the topological picture.
Practical information
- Informed public
- Free
Organizer
- Kathryn Hess