Past Topology Seminar

I will survey recent advances in our understanding of extended
3-dimensional topological field theories. I will describe recent work (joint
with B. Bartlett, C. Douglas, and J. Vicary) which gives an explicit
"generators and relations" classification of partially extended 3D TFTS
(assigning values only to 3-manifolds, surfaces, and 1-manifolds). This will
be compared to the fully-local case (which has been considered in joint work
with C. Douglas and N. Snyder).

Starting with seminal work by Masur-Minsky, a lot of machinery has been
developed to study the geometry of Mapping Class Groups, and this has
lead, for example, to the proof of quasi-isometric rigidity results.
Parts of this machinery include hyperbolicity of the curve complex, the
distance formula and hierarchy paths.
As it turns out, all this can be transposed to the context of CAT(0)
cube complexes. I will explain some of the key parts of the machinery
and then I will discuss results about quasi-Lipschitz maps from
Euclidean spaces and nilpotent Lie groups into "spaces with a distance
formula".
Joint with Jason Behrstock and Mark Hagen.

Profinite groups are compact totally disconnected groups, or equivalently projective limits of finite groups. This class of groups appears naturally in infinite Galois theory, but they can be studied for their own sake (which will be the case in this talk). We are interested in pro-p groups, i.e. projective limits of finite p-groups. For instance, the group SL(n,Z_p) - and in general any maximal compact subgroup in a Lie group over a local field of residual characteristic p - contains a pro-p group of finite index. The latter groups can be seen as pro-p Sylow subgroups in this situation (they are all conjugate by a non-positive curvature argument).

We will present an a priori non-linear generalization of these examples, arising via automorphism groups of spaces that we will gently introduce: buildings. The main result is the existence of a wide class of automorphism groups of buildings which are simple and whose maximal compact subgroups are virtually finitely generated pro-p groups. This is only the beginning of the study of these groups, where the main questions deal with linearity, and other homology groups.

This is joint work with Inna Cadeboscq (Warwick). We will also discuss related results with I. Capdeboscq and A. Lubotzky on controlling the size of profinite presentations of compact subgroups in some non-Archimedean simple groups

 Parametrized spectra are topological objects that represent
twisted forms of cohomology theories.  In this talk I will describe a theory
of parametrized spectra as highly structured bundle-like objects.  In
particular, we can make sense of the structure "group" of a bundle of
spectra.  This point of view leads to new examples and a good framework for
twisted equivariant cohomology theories.  

Given a 3-dimensional TQFT, the "conformal blocks" are the
values of that TQFT on closed Riemann surfaces.
The construction that we'll present (joint work with Douglas &
Bartels) takes as only input the value of the TQFT on discs. Towards
the end, I will explain to what extent the conformal blocks that we
construct agree with the conformal blocks constructed e.g. from the
theory of vertex operator algebras.

 We describe a framework for defining and classifying TQFTs via
surgery. Given a functor 
from the category of smooth manifolds and diffeomorphisms to
finite-dimensional vector spaces, 
and maps induced by surgery along framed spheres, we give a set of axioms
that allows one to assemble functorial coboridsm maps. 
Using this, we can reprove the correspondence between (1+1)-dimensional
TQFTs and commutative Frobenius algebras, 
and classify (2+1)-dimensional TQFTs in terms of a new structure, namely
split graded involutive nearly Frobenius algebras 
endowed with a certain mapping class group representation. The latter has
not appeared in the literature even in conjectural form. 
This framework is also well-suited to defining natural cobordism maps in
Heegaard Floer homology.

Vector bundles over a compact manifold can be defined via transition 
functions to a linear group. Often one imposes 
conditions on this structure group. For example for real vector bundles on 
may  ask that all 
transition functions lie in the special orthogonal group to encode 
orientability. Commutative K-theory arises when we impose the condition 
that the transition functions commute with each other whenever they are 
simultaneously defined.

We will introduce commutative K-theory and some natural variants of it, 
and will show that they give rise to  new generalised 
cohomology theories.

This is joint work with Adem, Gomez and Lind building on previous work by 
Adem, F. Cohen, and Gomez.

In this talk I will discuss a deformation principle for cohomology with coefficients in representations on Banach spaces. The

main idea is that small, metric perturbations of representations do not change the vanishing of cohomology in degree n, provided that

we have additional information about the cohomology in degree n+1. The perturbations considered here happen only on the generators of a

group and even for isometric representations give rise to unbounded representations. Applications include fixed point properties for

affine actions and strengthening of Kazhdan’s property (T). This is joint work with Uri Bader.

The filtration on the infinite symmetric product of spheres by number of

factors provides a sequence of spectra between the sphere spectrum and

the integral Eilenberg-Mac Lane spectrum. This filtration has received a

lot of attention and the subquotients are interesting stable homotopy

types.

In this talk I will discuss the equivariant stable homotopy types, for

finite groups, obtained from this filtration for the infinite symmetric

product of representation spheres. The filtration is more complicated

than in the non-equivariant case, and already on the zeroth homotopy

groups an interesting filtration of the augmentation ideal of the Burnside

rings arises. Our method is by `global' homotopy theory, i.e., we study

the simultaneous behaviour for all finite groups at once. In this context,

the equivariant subquotients are no longer rationally trivial, nor even

concentrated in dimension 0.

Knot Floer homology (introduced by Ozsvath-Szabo and independently by

Rasmussen) is a powerful tool for studying knots and links in the 3-sphere. In

particular, it gives rise to a numerical invariant, which provides a

nontrivial lower bound on the 4-dimensional genus of the knot. By deforming

the definition of knot Floer homology by a real number t from [0,2], we define

a family of homologies, and derive a family of numerical invariants with

similar properties. The resulting invariants provide a family of

homomorphisms on the concordance group. One of these homomorphisms can be

used to estimate the unoriented 4-dimensional genus of the knot. We will

review the basic constructions for knot Floer homology and the deformed

theories and discuss some of the applications. This is joint work with

P. Ozsvath and Z. Szabo.

An invariant random subgroup in a (finitely generated) group is a

probability measure on the space of subgroups of the group invariant under

the inner automorphisms of the group. It is a natural generalization of the

the notion of normal subgroup. I’ll give an introduction into this actively

developing subject and then discuss in more detail examples of invariant

random subgrous in groups of intermediate growth. The last part of the talk

will be based on a recent joint work with Mustafa Benli and Rostislav

Grigorchuk.

In order to study the group of (outer) automorphisms of

any group G by geometric methods one needs a well-behaved "outer

space" with an interesting action of Out(G). If G is free abelian, the

classic symmetric space SL(n,R)/SO(n) serves this role, and if G is

free non-abelian an appropriate outer space was introduced in the

1980's. I will recall these constructions and then introduce joint

work with Ruth Charney on constructing an outer space for any

right-angled Artin group.

Open 2d TCFTs correspond to cyclic A-infinity algebras, and Costello showed

that any open theory has a universal extension to an open-closed theory in

which the closed state space (the value of the functor on a circle) is the

Hochschild homology of the open algebra.  We will give a G-equivariant

generalization of this theorem, meaning that the surfaces are now equipped

with principal G-bundles.  Equivariant Hochschild homology and a new ribbon

graph decomposition of the moduli space of surfaces with G-bundles are the

principal ingredients.  This is joint work with Ramses Fernandez-Valencia.

The A-theory characteristic of a fibration is a

map to Waldhausen's algebraic K-theory of spaces which

can be regarded as a parametrized Euler characteristic of

the fibers. Regarding the classifying space of the cobordism

category as a moduli space of smooth manifolds, stable under

extensions by cobordisms, it is natural to ask whether the

A-theory characteristic can be extended to the cobordism

category. A candidate such extension was proposed by Bökstedt

and Madsen who defined an infinite loop map from the d-dimensional

cobordism category to the algebraic K-theory of BO(d). I will

discuss the connections between this map, the A-theory

characteristic and the smooth Riemann-Roch theorem of Dwyer,

Weiss and Williams.

Trees are not just combinatorial structures: they are also

biological structures, both in the obvious way but also in the

study of evolution. Starting from DNA samples from living

species, biologists use increasingly sophisticated mathematical

techniques to reconstruct the most likely “phylogenetic tree”

describing how these species evolved from earlier ones. In their

work on this subject, they have encountered an interesting

example of an operad, which is obtained by applying a variant of

the Boardmann–Vogt “W construction” to the operad for

commutative monoids. The operations in this operad are labelled

trees of a certain sort, and it plays a universal role in the

study of stochastic processes that involve branching. It also

shows up in tropical algebra. This talk is based on work in

progress with Nina Otter [www.fair-fish.ch].

We will present a somewhat different proof of Agol's theorem that

3-manifolds 

with RFRS fundamental group admit a finite cover which fibers over S^1.

This is joint work with Takahiro Kitayama.

We will consider infinite translation surfaces which are abelian covers of

compact surfaces with a (singular) flat metric and focus on the dynamical

properties of their flat geodesics. A motivation come from mathematical

physics, since flat geodesics on these surfaces can be obtained by unfolding

certain mathematical billiards. A notable example of such billiards is  the

Ehrenfest model, which consists of a particle bouncing off the walls of a

periodic planar array of rectangular scatterers.

The dynamics of flat geodesics on compact translation surfaces is now well

understood thanks to the beautiful connection with Teichmueller dynamics. We

will survey some recent advances on the study of infinite translation

surfaces and in particular focus on a joint work with K. Fraczek,  in which

we proved that the Ehrenfest model and more in general geodesic flows on

certain abelain covers have no dense orbits. We will try to convey an

heuristic idea of how Teichmueller dynamics plays a crucial role in the

proofs.

A "bordism representation" (*) is a representation of the abstract

structure formed by manifolds and bordisms between them, and hence of

fundamental interest in topology. I will give an overview of joint work

establishing a simple generators-and-relations presentation of the

3-dimensional oriented bordism bicategory, and also its "signature" central

extension. A representation of this bicategory corresponds in a 2-1 fashion

to a modular category, which must be anomaly-free in the oriented case. J/w

Chris Douglas, Chris Schommer-Pries, Jamie Vicary.

(*) These are also known as "topological quantum field theories".

Computational structures---from simple objects like bits and qubits,

to complex procedures like encryption and quantum teleportation---can

be defined using algebraic structures in a symmetric monoidal

2-category. I will show how this works, and demonstrate how the

representation theory of these structures allows us to recover the

ordinary computational concepts. The structures are topological in

nature, reflecting a close relationship between topology and

computation, and allowing a completely graphical proof style that

makes computations easy to understand. The formalism also gives

insight into contentious issues in the foundations of quantum

computing. No prior knowledge of computer science or category theory

will be required to understand this talk.

Given a triangulated category A, equipped with a differential

Z/2-graded enhancement, and a triangulated oriented marked surface S, we

explain how to define a space X(S,A) which classifies systems of exact

triangles in A parametrized by the triangles of S. The space X(S,A) is

independent, up to essentially unique Morita equivalence, of the choice of

triangulation and is therefore acted upon by the mapping class group of the

surface. We can describe the space X(S,A) as a mapping space Map(F(S),A),

where F(S) is the universal differential Z/2-graded category of exact

triangles parametrized by S. It turns out that F(S) is a purely topological

variant of the Fukaya category of S. Our construction of F(S) can then be

regarded as implementing a 2-dimensional instance of Kontsevich's proposal

on localizing the Fukaya category along a singular Lagrangian spine. As we

will see, these results arise as applications of a general theory of cyclic

2-Segal spaces.

This talk is based on joint work with Mikhail Kapranov.

There are various Floer-theoretical invariants of links and 3-manifolds

which take the form of homology groups which are the E_infinity page of

spectral sequences starting from Khovanov homology. We shall discuss recent

work, joint with Raphael Zentner, and work in progress, joint with John

Baldwin and Matthew Hedden, in investigating and exploiting these spectral

sequences.