Mon, 23 May 2011

15:45 - 16:45
L3

Examples of aspherical hyperbolic simplicial complexes. An application of small cancellation for rotation families of groups

Remi Coulon
(MPI Bonn)
Abstract

The goal of this talk is to construct new examples of hyperbolic

aspherical complexes. More precisely, given an aspherical simplicial

complex P and a subcomplex Q of P, we are looking for conditions under

which the complex obtained by attaching a cone of base Q on P remains

aspherical. If Q is a set of loops of a 2-dimensional complex, J.H.C.

Whitehead proved that this new complex is aspherical if and only if the

elements of the fundamental group of P represented by Q do not satisfy

any identity. To deal with higher dimensional subcomplexes we use small

cancellation theory and extend the geometric point of view developed by

T. Delzant and M. Gromov to rotation families of groups. In particular

we obtain hyperbolic aspherical complexes obtained by attaching a cone

over the "real part" of a hyperbolic complex manifold.

Mon, 16 May 2011

15:45 - 16:45
L3

The Kakimizu complex of a link

Jessica Banks
(Oxford)
Abstract

We give an introduction to the Kakimizu complex of a link,

covering a number of recent results. In particular we will see that the

Kakimizu complex of a knot may be locally infinite, that the Alexander

polynomial of an alternating link carries information about its Seifert

surfaces, and that the Kakimizu complex of a special alternating link is

understood.

Thu, 09 Jun 2011

16:00 - 17:00
L3

TBA

David Masser
(Basel)
Thu, 26 May 2011

16:00 - 17:00
L3

Iwasawa theory for modular forms

David Loeffler
(Warwick)
Abstract

he Iwasawa theory of elliptic curves over the rationals, and more
generally of modular forms, has mostly been studied with the
assumption that the form is "ordinary" at p -- i.e. that the Hecke
eigenvalue is a p-adic unit. When this is the case, the dual of the
p-Selmer group over the cyclotomic tower is a torsion module over the
Iwasawa algebra, and it is known in most cases (by work of Kato and
Skinner-Urban) that the characteristic ideal of this module is
generated by the p-adic L-function of the modular form.

I'll talk about the supersingular (good non-ordinary) case, where
things are slightly more complicated: the dual Selmer group has
positive rank, so its characteristic ideal is zero; and the p-adic
L-function is unbounded and hence doesn't lie in the Iwasawa algebra.
Under the rather restrictive hypothesis that the Hecke eigenvalue is
actually zero, Kobayashi, Pollack and Lei have shown how to decompose
the L-function as a linear combination of Iwasawa functions and
explicit "logarithm-like" series, and to modify the definition of the
Selmer group correspondingly, in order to formulate a main conjecture
(and prove one inclusion). I will describe joint work with Antonio Lei
and Sarah Zerbes where we extend this to general supersingular modular
forms, using methods from p-adic Hodge theory. Our work also gives
rise to new phenomena in the ordinary case: a somewhat mysterious
second Selmer group and L-function, which is related to the
"critical-slope L-function" studied by Pollack-Stevens and Bellaiche.


Thu, 12 May 2011

16:00 - 17:00
L3

Ribet points on semi-abelian varieties : a nest for counterexamples

Daniel Bertrand
(Paris)
Abstract

The points in question can be found on any semi-abelian surface over an

elliptic curve with complex multiplication. We will show that they provide

counter-examples to natural expectations in a variety of fields : Galois

representations (following K. Ribet's initial study from the 80's),

Lehmer's problem on heights, and more recently, the relative analogue of

the Manin-Mumford conjecture. However, they do support Pink's general

conjecture on special subvarieties of mixed Shimura varieties.

Wed, 04 May 2011

16:00 - 17:30
L3

Some results on submaximal spaces

Dr Secil Tokgoz
(Turkey)
Abstract

A topological space $(X,\tau)$ is submaximal if $\tau$ is the maximal element of $[{\tau}_{s}]$. Submaximality was first defined and characterized by Bourbaki. Since then, some mathematicians presented several characterizations of submaximal spaces.

In this paper, we will attempt to develop the concept of submaximality and offer some new results. Furthermore, some results concerning $\alpha$-scattered space will be obtained.

Fri, 24 Jun 2011

12:00 - 13:00
L3

Betti numbers of twisted Higgs bundles on P^1

Steven Rayan
(University of Oxford)
Abstract

As with conventional Higgs bundles, calculating Betti numbers of twisted Higgs bundle moduli spaces through Morse theory requires us to

study holomorphic chains. For the case when the base is P^1, we present a recursive method for constructing all the possible stable chains of a given type and degree by representing a family of chains by a quiver. We present the Betti numbers when the twists are O(1) and O(2), the latter of which coincides with the co-Higgs bundles on P^1. We offer some open questions. In doing so, we mention how these numbers have appeared elsewhere recently, namely in calculations of Mozgovoy related to conjectures coming from the physics literature (Chuang-Diaconescu-Pan).

Tue, 22 Mar 2011

02:15 - 03:15
L3

Factorization algebras and perturbative quantum field theory

Kevin Costello
(Northwestern)
Abstract

I'll describe an approach to perturbative quantum field theory
which is philosophically similar to the deformation quantization approach
to quantum mechanics. The algebraic objects which appear in our approach --
factorization algebras -- also play an important role in some recent work
in topology (by Francis, Lurie and others).  This is joint work with Owen
Gwilliam.

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