Christopher Hughes

Profile

Biography

Before I came to York in 2007, I taught in the US (at the University of Michigan) and I have held postdoctoral positions in Tel Aviv, the American Institute of Mathematics, and the Newton Institute in Cambridge. I was awarded my PhD in 2001 from the University of Bristol, where I studied under the supervision of Jon Keating and Neil O'Connell.

I am a Senior Fellow of the HEA.

Departmental roles

• Chair of Graduate Research School Committee

Research

Overview

I am interested in the connections between random matrix theory and number theory, in particular in using characteristic polynomials of random matrices to predict the distribution of L-function values. Methods used in these studies have applications beyond number theory, for example to mathematical physics, combinatorics, logic and probability.

Research group(s)

Number Theory Research Group

Available PhD research projects

I work at the interface of number theory and random matrix theory, primarily in using random matrix models to understand the distribution of the Riemann zeta function. I am happy to supervise PhD projects on the Riemann zeta function (such as how big it can get on the critical line, and the general distribution of its values) and in random matrix theory (such as understanding the distribution of extreme values of characteristic polynomials of random matrices).

Supervision

• Solomon Lugmayer - scll500@york.ac.uk
• Andrew Pearce-Crump - aepc501@york.ac.uk
• Matthew Thompson - mjt560@york.ac.uk