Eric Pichon-Pharabod

Eric Pichon-Pharabod is a postdoctoral researcher at the Numerical Algebraic Geometry group of the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig. He completed his PhD at Université Paris-Saclay in the MATHEXP team (previously SpecFun) at Inria Saclay under the supervision of Pierre Lairez and Pierre Vanhove, defending his thesis on September 27, 2024.

His educational background includes doctoral studies at Université Paris-Saclay, where he developed expertise in computational algebraic geometry and period computations. His PhD work focused on efficient algorithms for numerical approximations of periods of algebraic varieties, building on previous research in the MATHEXP team at Inria Saclay.

Eric's research spans algebraic geometry, topology, and computational mathematics with emphasis on numerical methods. He specializes in developing practical algorithms for computing periods and homology of complex algebraic varieties, including hypersurfaces and elliptic surfaces. His work bridges theoretical mathematics with concrete computational implementations, primarily using SageMath. He has made significant contributions to understanding Galois groups of symmetric families, period computations for Calabi-Yau varieties, and applications to mathematical physics.

His publication record reveals a strong focus on computational techniques in algebraic geometry, with recent work exploring connections between period computations, monodromy representations, and physical applications. His algorithms have enabled computations that were previously infeasible, such as period calculations for smooth quartic surfaces on standard laptops.

Eric actively contributes to the mathematical community through the lefschetz-family SageMath package and as co-organizer of the Universe+ online seminar. His interdisciplinary approach connects pure mathematics with physics and computer science, demonstrating how numerical methods can illuminate deep theoretical questions in algebraic geometry.