Percy A. Deift

About

Percy A. Deift is the Silver Professor of Mathematics at NYU Courant. His research focuses on integrable systems, including dynamical systems like the Toda lattice and KdV equation, as well as orthogonal polynomials and random matrix theory. He is particularly interested in asymptotic questions and uses Riemann-Hilbert problems and nonlinear steepest-descent methods.

Education

• Ph.D., Mathematical Physics, Princeton University, USA, 1977
• M.S., Physics, Rhodes University, South Africa, 1971
• M.S., Chemical Engineering, University of Natal (Durban), South Africa, 1970
• B.S., Chemical Engineering, University of Natal (Durban), South Africa, 1967

Selected publications

• Asymptotics of Toeplitz, Hankel, and Toeplitz+Hankel determinants with Fisher-Hartwig singularities
• Long-time asymptotics for solutions of the NLS equation with a delta potential and even initial data
• An optimal family of exponentially accurate one-bit sigma-delta quantization schemes