Wed, 04 May 2016

16:00 - 17:00
C1

Classifying Groups up to Quasi-Isometry

Alex Margolis
Abstract

In his ICM address in 1983, Gromov proposed a program of classifying finitely generated groups up to quasi-isometry. One way of approaching this is by breaking a group down into simpler parts by means of a JSJ decomposition. I will give a survey of various JSJ theories and related quasi-isometric rigidity results, including recent work by Cashen and Martin.

Wed, 27 Apr 2016

16:00 - 17:00
C1

Random walks, harmonic functions and Poisson boundary

Vigolo Federico
(Oxford)
Abstract

in this talk I will try to introduce some key ideas and concepts about random walks on discrete spaces, with special interest on random walks on Cayley graphs.

Mon, 29 Feb 2016
16:30
C1

Torelli and Borel-Tits theorems via trichotomy

Carlos Alfonso Ruiz Guido
(Oxford University)
Abstract

Using the "trichotomy principle" by Boris Zilber I will give model theoretic proofs of appropriate versions of Torelli theorem and Borel-Tits theorem. The first one has interesting applications to anabelian geometry, I won't assume any prior knowledge in model theory.

Fri, 11 Mar 2016

11:00 - 12:00
C1

On the birational invariance of the BCOV torsion of Calabi-Yau threefold (joint with V. Maillot)

Damian Rössler
(Oxford)
Abstract

Fang, Lu and Yoshikawa conjectured a few years ago that a certain string-theoretic invariant (originally introduced by the physicists M. Bershadsky, S. Cecotti, H. Ooguri, and C. Vafa) of Calabi-Yau threefolds is a birational invariant. This conjecture can be viewed as a "secondary" analog (in dimension three) of the birational invariance of Hodge numbers of Calabi-Yau varieties established by Batyrev and Kontsevich. Using the arithmetic Riemann-Roch theorem, we prove a weak form of this conjecture. 

Fri, 04 Mar 2016

11:00 - 12:00
C1

TBA

Minhyong Kim
Fri, 26 Feb 2016

11:00 - 12:00
C1

TBA

Jennifer Balakrishnan
Fri, 19 Feb 2016

11:00 - 12:00
C1

\zeta(3) in graviton-graviton scattering and the moduli space of CY manifolds

Philip Candelas
(Oxford)
Abstract

I will discuss how \zeta(3) occurs in quantum corrections to the Einstein action, and how this causes \zeta(3) to be seen in the moduli space of CY manifolds. I will also draw attention to the fact that the dependence of the moduli space on \zeta(3) has a p-adic analogue.

Mon, 22 Feb 2016
16:30
C1

Congruence and non-congruence level structures on elliptic curves: a hands-on tour of the modular tower

Alexander Betts
(Oxford University)
Abstract
Classically, one puts an algebraic structure on certain "congruence" quotients of the upper half plane by interpreting them as spaces parametrising elliptic curves with certain level structures on their torsion subgroups. However, the non-congruence quotients don't admit such a straightforward description.
 
We will sketch the classical theory of congruence modular curves and level structures, and then discuss a preprint by W. Chen which extends the above notions to non-congruence modular curves by considering so-called Teichmueller level structures on the fundamental groups of punctured elliptic curves.
Mon, 08 Feb 2016
16:30
C1

The degree zero part of the motivic polylogarithm and the Deligne-Beilinson cohomology

Danny Scarponi
(Univ.Toulouse)
Abstract

Last year, G. Kings and D. Rossler related the degree zero part of the polylogarithm
on abelian schemes pol^0 with another object previously defined by V. Maillot and D.
Rossler. More precisely, they proved that the canonical class of currents constructed
by Maillot and Rossler provides us with the realization of pol^0 in analytic Deligne
cohomology.
I will show that, adding some properness conditions, it is possible to give a
refinement of Kings and Rossler’s result involving Deligne-Beilinson cohomology
instead of analytic Deligne cohomology.

 

Subscribe to C1