08/05/2023

Alejandro Vicente concludes six-year cycle at IMPA.

After six years with IMPA, Alejandro Vicente, 29, completes his cycle at the institute with the presentation of his doctoral thesis “Forms of pre-quantization contact in spheres and integrable systems”. The Cuban arrived in Brazil in 2017 to begin his master’s degree in pure mathematics, and will complete his doctorate next Tuesday (9), at 11 am. The thesis, which was supervised by researcher Vinicius Ramos, will be defended in room 232, with transmission via IMPA’s YouTube channel .

Having lived in Brazil since he was 23, he says it was at IMPA that he built friendships and found his academic calling. His decision to research symplectic geometry and topology came after his master's degree, when he took courses on the subject with Vinicius Ramos.

“Vinicius’s mentorship process prepared me to be an independent researcher. This is a fundamental skill in research, because we are always traveling and debating with professionals from all over the world. I am very grateful to him for having contributed so much to my research,” he concluded.

In symplectic topology, the doctoral student was interested in understanding the relationship between spheres and integrable systems.

“In topology, we study the deformation of objects. One way to understand these objects is to imagine that 'slime' that children play with. The object can move, be twisted, wobble, but without being cut… In symplectic geometry, we can measure areas and thus study the properties of deformed objects within the structure. In my thesis, I looked for the largest ball that can fit into a symplectic manifold,” he said.

Born in the city of Cienfuegos, Cuba, Alejandro says he discovered his talent for mathematics at age 15, through jokes with his schoolmates. “For some reason, everyone did poorly on a test and I did very well. My friends started saying I wasn't 'that bad' at math, so I started researching books to read out of curiosity. I found several things I didn't understand and I took that as a challenge,” he commented.

The son of a primary school teacher and an administrator, Vicente discovered his interest in the subject through independent study—using advanced books he found while still in school. From there, he decided to pursue a degree in mathematics at the Central University of Las Villas.

“I became interested in studying something I couldn’t understand. I realized I wanted to pursue a degree, initially just out of curiosity. When I finished my degree, I thought, ‘I want to learn even more mathematics,’ and I came to Rio to explore the world of research.”

In September, the young man embarks on a new experience: a postdoctoral fellowship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel. “I’m very excited! I’ve managed to reach places I never expected to. I’m very happy.”