Contact Information| Address: | School of Mathematics |
| Georgia Institute of Technology | |
| Atlanta, GA 30332 |
|
| Office: | 258 Skiles |
| Phone: | 404-894-1833 |
| Fax: | 404-894-4409 |
| E-mail: | hurley@math.gatech.edu |
| Office hours: | Tuesdays 1-2 pm, Wednesdays 1:30-2:30 pm or by appointment |
Course Web Sites
| Fall 2008: | Math 2602 | Linear and Discrete Mathematics |
| Spring 2008: | Math 4280 | Introduction to Information Theory |
| Fall 2007: | Math 1522 | Linear Algebra for Calc. |
| Math 2401 | Calculus III | |
| Spring 2007: | Math 4012 | Algebraic Structures for Coding Theory |
| Fall 2006: | Math 2401 | Calculus III |
| Spring 2006: | Math 1502 | Calculus II |
| Fall 2005: | Math 1501 | Calculus I |
| Math 2401 | Calculus III |
Research Interests
My research is in vertex operator algebras (VOAs), which are structure rich
algebraic objects. (Despite the name, they are technically neither algebras
nor operator algebras.) Vertex operator algebras have roots in
Lie algebras, finite groups (in particular the monster group) and string
theory.
My research concerns modularity properties of VOAs. One can associate a q-graded function called a graded trace or one-point correlation function to a given VOA, and in some cases these functions are modular forms. In my thesis, there are two main results concerning which modular forms are realized as graded traces. One result, Highest-weight vectors of the moonshine module with non-zero graded trace, has appeared in the Journal of Algebra: volume 261 (2003) pp 411-433. The other result, The space of graded traces for holomorphic VOAs of small central charge, is available on the Mathematics ArXiv: arXiv:math.QA/0606282.
Vita
I completed my Ph.D. in March of 2002, under the direction of Geoffrey Mason
of the University of California at Santa Cruz.
Since then I have worked at the University of South Carolina, Penn State
University and now Georgia Tech. I am married to
Mohammad Ghomi, a geometer,
and we have a
cat,
who has no recorded mathematical output.
On January 6th 2004, we were joined by a son
Reza who does
not have to be a mathematician, honest.