Prof. Marta Mazzocco studied Theoretical Physics at the University of Padova and then obtained a PhD in Mathematical Physics at SISSA, Trieste in 1998. After a brief stay at MSRI Berkeley, she spent all of her academic career in the United Kingdom, until she was awarded an ICREA Senior Researcher position in 2024 and moved to UPC in Barcelona.
Research interests
Among the greatest discoveries of Newton and Euler was the fact that many diverse phenomena such planetary orbits, pendular motion, tides, sound, waves, all of which were studied separately, could be approached abstractly within the same mathematical framework: the theory of differential equations. This theory yields universal predictions applicable in many different problems.
My recent research focuses on a modern generalisation of differential equations, called meromorphic connections on Riemann surfaces, and captures a vastly wider range of phenomena including those underpinning contemporary questions in theoretical physics.
In particular, I am interested in the moduli spaces (equivalence classes) of meromorphic connections. My research combines areas of pure mathematics such as analysis, geometry, mathematical physics and algebra, in order to access the valuable information that these often singular and high-dimensional spaces codify.