16:00
Harmonic maps and virtual properties of mapping class groups
Abstract
It is a standard result that mapping class groups of high genus do not surject the integers. This is easily shown by computing the abelianization of the mapping class group using a presentation. Once we pass to finite index subgroups, this becomes a conjecture of Ivanov. More generally, we can ask which groups admit epimorphisms from finite index subgroups of the mapping class group. In this talk, I will present a geometric approach to this question, using harmonic maps, and explain some recent results.
16:00
Twisted correlations of the divisor function via discrete averages of $\operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbb{R})$ Poincaré series
Abstract
The talk is based on joint work with Lasse Grimmelt. We prove a theorem that allows one to count solutions to determinant equations twisted by a periodic weight with high uniformity in the modulus. It is obtained by using spectral methods of $\operatorname{SL}_2(\mathbb{R})$ automorphic forms to study Poincaré series over congruence subgroups while keeping track of interactions between multiple orbits. This approach offers increased flexibility over the widely used sums of Kloosterman sums techniques. We give applications to correlations of the divisor function twisted by periodic functions and the fourth moment of Dirichlet $L$-functions on the critical line.