Alexander Betts

Alexander Betts is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Cornell University's College of Arts and Sciences. His research focuses on modern approaches to Diophantine equations using tools from arithmetic geometry and algebraic topology, particularly the Chabauty–Kim method and Grothendieck's Section Conjecture.

• Key Contributions: Proved partial finiteness theorems for the section set of curves, developed effective bounds for rational points on curves via fundamental groups, and advanced the refined Chabauty–Kim method for explicit calculations.
• Recent Work: Collaborated with Jakob Stix on p-adic period mappings, with Martin Lüdtke on the Section Conjecture, and with Wanlin Li on p-adic cohomology classes of the Ceresa cycle.

Publications: 15+ peer-reviewed works in top journals like Compositio Mathematica, Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society, and Mathematics of Computation, focusing on Selmer schemes, Kummer maps, and height functions.

Teaching: Offers courses like MATH 6310 (Algebra) and MATH 4900 (Supervised Research) at Cornell. Previously taught at Harvard and King's College London.

Outreach: Volunteered extensively with the UK Mathematics Trust, including mentoring, problem-setting, and leading international olympiad teams.