Simon Telen

Max Planck research group leader

I lead the Numerical Nonlinear Algebra research group at the Max Planck institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig. 

I am the diversity officer of the European Mathematical Society Young Academy.

I am the scientific representative of our Max Planck Institute in the Chemistry, Physics and Technology Section of the Max Planck Society. 

Research Interests

My research topics are part of a field called nonlinear algebra. This is the application-driven study of nonlinear equations, with a view towards computation. 

In my PhD research, I have developed methods for solving systems of polynomial equations numerically. The focus was on the important class of so-called 0-dimensional systems (i.e. with finitely many solutions). In some approaches such a system is reformulated as an eigenvalue problem. Other algorithms solve the problem via numerical homotopy continuation.

I am particularly interested in the important role of toric geometry in the solution of sparse systems of polynomial equations, and its applications in other fields of science. Recently, I've been exploring methods that go beyond toric varieties, exploiting for instance Khovanskii bases.

Solving nonlinear equations has many applications. For example, we use our methods to decompose tensors, which are multidimensional generalizations of matrices. My group also addresses mathematical questions coming from particle physics. This includes solving scattering equations for the evaluation of scattering amplitudes and computing the singularity loci of Feynman integrals.  

Upcoming Conferences & Workshops