Web site: http://funcan.univer.kharkov.ua

History

The department was originated in 1950 as Department of Function Theory. N.I. Akhiezer, a corresponding member of Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, was one of the founders and the first head of the department. After that it was headed by Professor B.Ya.Levin (1955 - 1963) and a corresponding member of Ukrainian Academy of Sciences I.V.Ostrovskii (1963 - 1986). In 1986 Department of Function Theory merged with Department of Algebra and Mathematical Logic and obtained its present name. The latter department was found in 1933 as Department of Algebra and Number Theory. Its first head was Professor A.K. Sushkevich. After the merging the heads of the rearranged department were Professors Yu.I. Lubich (1986 - 1989) and I.V. Ostrovskii (1990 - 1994). Since 1994 the department is headed by Professor S.Yu. Favorov.

Teaching

The department is responsible for the following basic courses: Linear Algebra, General Algebraic Structures, Mathematical Logic, Discrete Mathematics, Complex Analysis, Functional Analysis, Measure and Integration Theory, Probability and Mathematical Statistics. Outside of these obligatory courses every year there is a number of courses by choice whose subjects correspond to scientific interests of the department members.

Information for applicants

The Department of Function Theory and Functional Analysis invites those students of Bachelor and Master levels in pure and applied mathematics, that want to specialize either in traditional branches of mathematics (Algebra, Complex Analysis, Functional Analysis, Probability) or in a recently established specialization in Computer Algebra. The latter specialization is devoted to modern algebraic methods of computer programs testing.

One can join a Ph.D. program in our department either in Algebra (scientific adviser Professor B.V.Novikov) or in Mathematical Analysis (advisers Dr. V.M.Kadets and Professor S.Yu.Favorov). During the last ten years the post-graduate students of our department successfully defended 10 Ph.D. thesis. Two of these students are accepted now to the main staff of the Department. These former students are N.P.Girya (the thesis title: “Holomorphic almost periodic functions of many complex variables”, the defense date: January 11, 2008) and L.Yu. Polyakova (“Homologies of monoids”, December 14, 2009 ). During the last five years 6 of our doctoral students have got various fellowships for young scientists. Currently there are 5 post-graduate students in our department.

Staff members and their scientific research

The department members conduct their research in Analytic Functions, Analytical Methods in Probability, Banach Space Geometry and Algebra. In paricular:

• Almost periodicity in Complex Analysis (Professor S.Yu. Favorov and Assistant Professor N.P.Girya);
• Analytical problems of Probability (Associate Professor A.I. Ilinskii);
• Banach Space Geometry (Associate Professor V.M. Kadets);
• Zero sets of various classes of analytic functions; distribution of values of analytic and meromorphic functions (Professor S.Yu. Favorov, Associate Professors A.M. Vishnyakova and O.M. Katkova);
• Semigroups, Rings and Homological Algebra (Professor B.V. Novikov, Associate Professor I.P. Ilinskaja and Assistant Professor L.Yu. Polyakova);
• Application of algebraic methods to Computer Program Testing (Professor B.V. Novikov and Assistant Professor L.Yu. Polyakova);
• Lee Algebras (Associate Professor E.M. Karolinsky);
• Formal methods of Semiotics (Associate Professor V.N. Kaluzhny).

Professor S.Yu. Favorov is a co-chairman of the Kharkov Seminar in Function Theory, Professor B.V. Novikov is the head of the Kharkov Algebraic Seminar, and Associate Professor V.M. Kadets heads the Kharkov Banach Space Seminar.

Professor S.Yu. Favorov and Associate Professor E.M. Karolinsky are winners of the M.V. Ostrogradskii Prize. Associate Professor V.M. Kadets is a Habilitated Doctor in Mathematics (Poland) and a Humboldt Fellow (Germany). In 2005 he obtained the Ukrainian State Award in Science and Technology. He wrote a textbook “A course in Functional Analysis”.

The department members publish around 15 research articles annually, the main part of them in internationally recognized journals.

Especially we would like to put emphasis on the recent brilliant result of Associate Professor O.M. Katkova. She reduced the famous hypothesis on zeros of Riemann zeta function to positivity of some sequence of numerical determinants.

International collaboration

The members of our department collaborate with a number of colleagues from various universities abroad. In particular:

• in Israel: Technion (Professor Yu.I. Lubich), Tel-Aviv University (Professors V.I. Matsaev and M.L. Sodin), Ben Gurion University of Negev (Professors G.R. Belitsky and V.A. Tkachenko);
• in USA: Purdue University West Lafayette (Professor A. Eremenko);
• in Norway: Trondheim University (Professor Yu. Lubarsky), University of Stavanger (Professors A. Ulanovsky and Alexander Yu. Rashkovsky);
• Turkey: Sabanci University (Professor Yu. Lubarsky);
• Germany: Free University of Berlin (Professor D. Werner);
• Spain: University of Granada (Professors M. Martin, M. Acosta and J. Meri), University of Murcia (Professors B. Cascales and J. Rodriguez);
• Brazil: University of San-Paulo (Professor M. Dokuchaev);
• Sweden: Gothenburg University (A. Stolin).