Rob Bisseling :Parallel computations for verifying the binary Goldbach conjecture

As part of its seminar, the Computer Science Department of the ENS de Lyon is pleased to welcome Rob Bisseling.

Abstract: The binary Goldbach conjecture states that every even number larger than two can be written as the sum of two prime numbers. The conjecture is an open problem in mathematics since 1742. Its truth has been verified for even numbers up to 4 x 10^18 in April 2012, but a proof has not yet been found. We will present a new algorithm for verifying the conjecture, which is based on the use of a suitable sparse data structure, exploitation of repeating patterns in the prime numbers, and several techniques from the area of combinatorial scientific computing, in particular for solving the hypergraph vertex cover problem. Furthermore, we harness parallel computers to reach the high numbers we are interested in. Let's see how far we can get!
 

Rob Bisseling is a full professor in Scientific Computing at the Mathematical Institute of Utrecht University, the Netherlands. His main research interest are: parallel algorithms, combinatorial scientific computing, graph and hypergraph algorithms, fast Fourier transforms. He is author of the book Parallel Scientific Computation: A Structured Approach using BSP, Second Edition, Oxford University Press 2020. He is a 2023-24 Fellow of the Collegium de Lyon.

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