Living proof: Hunting through higher dimensions with Zhouli Xu

On May 30th 2024 seminar goers at Princeton University witnessed a thrilling moment. The mathematician Zhouli Xu of the University of California, LA, announced that, together with colleagues he had sorted out the 126th dimension. Not in general, but in regards to a problem that has taunted mathematicians since the 1960s. The problem involves strange shapes and is called the Kervaire invariant problem, after the mathematician Michel Kervaire.

In this episode of Maths on the Move Zhouli takes us on a trip into higher dimensions, giving us a gist of what this long-standing problem is all about and retracing some of the long, and sometimes arduous, journey towards a proof. We met Zhouli when he visited our neighbours at the Isaac Newton institute for Mathematical Sciences (INI) in Cambridge to take part in a research programme called Equivariant homotopy theory in Context.

To find out more abut the topics discussed in this podcast see:

• Maths in a minute: Topology
• The hypersphere in four dimensions
• Telescope topology

This content forms part of our collaboration with the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (INI) – you can find all the content from the collaboration here.

The INI is an international research centre and our neighbour here on the University of Cambridge's maths campus. It attracts leading mathematical scientists from all over the world, and is open to all. Visit www.newton.ac.uk to find out more.