Abstract: The classical theory of metric Diophantine approximation is very well developed and has, in recent years, seen significant advances, partly due to connections with homogeneous dynamics. Several problems in this subject can be viewed as particular examples of a very general setup, that of lattice actions on homogeneous varieties of semisimple groups. The latter setup presents significant challenges, including but not limited to, the non-abelian nature of the objects under study.

Title: S-machines and their applications Abstract: I will discuss applications of S-machines which were first introduced in 1996. The applications include * Description of possible Dehn functions of groups * Various Higman-like embedding theorems * Finitely presented non-amenable torsion-by-cyclic groups * Aspherical manifolds containing expanders * Groups with quadratic Dehn functions and undecidable conjugacy problem

Title : "Critical exponents of invariant random subgroups in negative curvature"

We will report on a joint work with Shmuel Weinberger of U. of Chicago & Min Yan of Hong Kong U. of Sci. & Tech.

(joint work with Françoise Dal'Bo and Andrea Sambusetti) Given a finitely generated group G acting properly on a metric space X, the exponential growth rate of G with respect to X measures "how big" the orbits of G are. If H is a subgroup of G, its exponential growth rate is bounded above by the one of G. In this work we are interested in the following question: what can we say if H and G have the same exponential growth rate? This problem has both a combinatorial and a geometric origin. For the combinatorial part, Grigorchuck and Cohen

Abstract: A permutation representation of a group G is called highly transitive if it is transitive on k-tuples of points for every k. Until just a few years ago groups admitting such permutation representations were thought of as rare. I will focus on three rather recent papers: G-Garion, Hall-Osin, Gelander-G-Meiri (in preparation) showing that such groups are in fact very common.

Consider a sequence of random walks on $\mathbb{Z}/p\mathbb{Z}$ with symmetric generating sets $A= A(p)$. I will describe known and new results regarding the mixing time and cut-off. For instance, if the sequence $|A(p)|$ is bounded then the cut-off phenomenon does not occur, and more precisely I give a lower bound on the size of the cut-off window in terms of $|A(p)|$. A natural conjecture from random walk on a graph is that the total variation mixing time is bounded by maximum degree times diameter squared.

Title: Arithmetic of Double Torus Quotients and the Distribution of Periodic Torus Orbits Abstract: In this talk I will describe some new arithmetic invariants for pairs of torus orbits on inner forms of PGLn and SLn. These invariants allow us to significantly strengthen results towards the equidistribution of packets of periodic torus orbits on higher rank S-arithmetic quotients. An important aspect of our method is that it applies to packets of periodic orbits of maximal tori which are only partially split.

To every topological group, one can associate a unique universal minimal flow (UMF): a flow that maps onto every minimal flow of the group. For some groups (for example, the locally compact ones), this flow is not metrizable and does not admit a concrete description. However, for many "large" Polish groups, the UMF is metrizable, can be computed, and carries interesting combinatorial information. The talk will concentrate on some new results that give a characterization of metrizable UMFs of Polish groups. It is based on two papers, one joint

To every topological group, one can associate a unique universal minimal flow (UMF): a flow that maps onto every minimal flow of the group. For some groups (for example, the locally compact ones), this flow is not metrizable and does not admit a concrete description. However, for many "large" Polish groups, the UMF is metrizable, can be computed, and carries interesting combinatorial information. The talk will concentrate on some new results that give a characterization of metrizable UMFs of Polish groups. It is based on two papers, one joint

Title: Rigidity of higher rank diagonalizable actions in positive characteristic