Thomas Leistner

Associate Professor Thomas Leistner

Associate Prof/Reader

School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences

Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


I am Associate Professor in Pure Mathematics. I received my PhD from Humboldt-University Berlin, held postdoc positions at Berlin and Adelaide, and worked as a Assistant Professor at the University of Hamburg before joining the University of Adelaide.
My research lies in differential geometry, which is an area of pure mathematics that deals with curved spaces (and space-times) and has applications in mathematical physics, in particular in general relativity and string theory.

My research lies in differential geometry where I study curved spaces (and space-times), their geometric properties, their symmetries and their relation to interesting differential equations. My research so far has focussed on Lorentzian geometry, conformal geometry and holonomy groups. Some of my research has applications in mathematical physics, in particular in general relativity and string theory.

2011-2012: Go8 - DAAD Australia - Germany Joint Research Cooperation Scheme, "Spinor field equations in Lorentzian geometry", joint with Helga Baum (HU-Berlin)

2012-2014: ARC Discovery Project "Holonomy groups in Lorentzian geometry"

2012-2016:  ARC Future Fellowship

2019-2021: ARC Discovery Project "Symmetry and geometric partial differential equations", with Michael Eastwood (Adelaide), Jonathan Kress (UNSW), and Rod Gover (Auckland)

 

Recent teaching:

Mathematics IM

Mathematics IA

Mathematics IB

Applications of Quantitative Methods in Finance I

Multivariable and Complex Calculus II

Groups and Rings III

Topology and Analysis III

Advanced Mathematical Perspectives III

Manifolds, Lie Groups and Lie Algebras (Honours)

Differential Geometry (Honours)

 

 

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Co-Supervisor Cohomology Rings of Topological and Smooth 4-Manifolds Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Paawan Nileshkumar Jethva
    2024 Principal Supervisor Conformally related Einstein metrics Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Harrison Greven
    2020 Co-Supervisor The Oka principle in twisted K-theory Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Haripriya Sridharan
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2022 - 2024 Principal Supervisor Algebraic Aspects of Lorentzian Homogeneous Spaces Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Steven James Greenwood
    2022 - 2024 Co-Supervisor Quadrics & Quadrals, Combinatorics & Characterisations: a Survey of Subspaces Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr George Savvoudis
    2020 - 2023 Principal Supervisor On Dirac Generating Operators and Clifford Module Bundles Doctor of Philosophy under a Jointly-awarded Degree Agreement with Doctorate Full Time Ms Manasa Manjunatha
    2020 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Approximation of Higher Degree Spectra Results for Twisted Laplace Operators Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Matthias Eduard Fresacher
    2019 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Legendrean and G2 Contact Structures Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Timothy John An Hu Moy
    2019 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Symmetric Spaces, Geometric Manifolds and Geodesic Completeness Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Thomas Jack Munn
    2019 - 2023 Principal Supervisor The Killing operator on locally homogeneous spaces Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Esteban Federico Costanza
    2019 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Highly symmetric homogeneous Kobayashi-hyperbolic manifolds Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Elliot Herrington
    2019 - 2021 Principal Supervisor Conformal group actions on Cahen-Wallach spaces Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Stuart Benjamin Teisseire
    2018 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Theta Functions, Gauss Sums and Modular Forms Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Benjamin Terence Moore
    2017 - 2020 Co-Supervisor Spaces of Holomorphic Immersions of Open Riemann Surfaces into the Complex Plane Master of Philosophy Master Part Time Miss Haripriya Sridharan
    2013 - 2015 Co-Supervisor Einstein and Conformally Einstein Bi-Invariant Semi-Riemannian Metrics Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Dr Kelli Leigh Francis-Staite
  • Memberships

    Date Role Membership Country
    2010 - ongoing Member Australian Mathematical Society Australia
  • Community Engagement

    Date Title Engagement Type Institution Country
    2022 - ongoing Differential Geometry Seminar Scientific Community Engagement University of Adelaide Australia
    2021 - 2021 Event Director of the AMSI Summer School in the Mathematical Sciences Scientific Community Engagement Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute and University of Adelaide Australia
    2018 - 2018 Conference Director of the 62nd Annual Meeting of the Australian Mathematical Society Scientific Community Engagement University of Adelaide Australia
  • Editorial Boards

    Date Role Editorial Board Name Institution Country
    2016 - 2019 Board Member Communications of the Korean Mathematical Society Korean mathematical Society Korea, Republic of
    2014 - ongoing Board Member Advances in Geometry De Gruyter Germany
  • Presentation

    Date Topic Presented at Institution Country
    2024 - 2024 Lorentzian homogeneous structures with indecomposable holonomy Symmetry and shape University of Santiago de Compostela Spain
    2024 - 2024 Lorentzian homogeneous structures with indecomposable holonomy Seminar on Differential Geometry University of Hamburg Germany
    2024 - 2024 Lorentzian homogeneous structures with indecomposable holonomy Differential geometry seminar University Regensburg Germany
    2024 - 2024 The Killing connection and the range of the Killing operator Mathematical supergravity Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia, UNED, Madrid Spain
    2023 - 2023 Conformal transformations of Cahen-Wallach spaces Research Seminar Differential Geometry University of Hamburg Germany
    2023 - 2023 The Killing connection and the range of the Killing operator Differential Geometry Seminar University Regensburg Germany
    2023 - 2023 Conformal transformations of Cahen-Wallach spaces Spectrum and Symmetry for Group Actions in Differential Geometry II Matrix Mathematical Research Institute Australia
    2023 - 2023 The range of a connection and a Calabi operator for Lorentzian locally symmetric spaces GRIEG meets Chopin. Warsaw meeting on geometric methods in science Polish Academy of Science Poland
    2022 - 2022 Conformal Transformation of Cahen-Wallach spaces Oberseminar University of Regensburg Germany
    2022 - 2022 A Calabi operator for locally symmetric spaces Global Analysis on Manifolds A Conference in Honour of Prof. Christian Bär University Freiburg Germany
    2022 - 2022 Conformal Transformations of Cahen-Wallach spaces Pseudo-Riemannian geometry and invariants in General Relativity University of Stavanger Norway
    2021 - 2021 Cauchy problems for Lorentzian manifolds with special holonomy. Part 1 Seminar on Advanced Topics in Geometric Analysis University of Regensburg Germany
    2021 - 2021 Geodesic completeness of compact Lorentzian manifolds International Meeting on Lorentzian Geometry University of Cordoba Spain
    2019 - 2019 Semi-Riemannian cones and their holonomy THE ABEL SYMPOSIUM 2019: Geometry, Lie Theory and Applications Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Norway
    2019 - 2019 The ambient obstruction tensor and conformal holonomy Workshop on Cartan Geometry Korea Institute for Advanced Study Korea, Republic of
    2018 - 2018 The ambient obstruction tensor and conformal holonomy Conformal and Symplectic Geometry University of Auckland New Zealand
    2017 - 2017 Geodesic completeness of compact Lorentzian manifolds Seminario de Geometría University of Granada Spain
    2017 - 2017 Lecture series on non Riemannian holonomy Simons Semester Symmetry and Geometric Structures Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Science Poland
    2016 - 2016 Cauchy problems for Lorentzian manifolds with special holonomy Geometric Flows and the Geometry of Space-time University of Hamburg Germany
    2016 - 2016 Geodesic completness of compact Lorentzian manifolds with spacial holonomy 7th Pacific RIM Conference on Mathematics Seoul National University Korea, Republic of
    2016 - 2016 Cauchy problems for Lorentzian manifolds with special holonomy Workshop on Analysis, Geometry and Mathematical Relativity Monash University Australia
  • Position: Associate Prof/Reader
  • Phone: 83136401
  • Email: thomas.leistner@adelaide.edu.au
  • Fax: 83133696
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Ingkarni Wardli, floor 6
  • Org Unit: Mathematical Sciences

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