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Deformation Theory Seminar

Wednesday, January 31, 2018 - 2:00pm

Tai-Danae Bradley

Grad Center CUNY

Location

University of Pennsylvania

TBA

 In 2011, John Baez, Tobias Fritz and Tom Leinster gave a categorical characterization of Shannon entropy in terms of information loss. Around the same time, Leinster gave a different, but equivalent, characterization of entropy using the language of operads, namely as lax points of the operad of simplices. Simultaneously, Baez observed that entropy resembles a derivation and suggested that the two notions be reconciled. Thus the question was posed, “Can we see Shannon entropy as a derivation in the operadic sense?” The answer is “yes,” and we explore the details in this talk.