Seminars & Events for Algebraic Topology Seminar

September 20, 2012
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Action-Dimension of Groups
Algebraic Topology Seminar

This is a combined Topology/Algebraic Topology seminar. For a group G, we define a notion of dimension in terms of dimension change of the of the top homology between a free G space X and it's quotient X/G.  We show that this is well defined and calculate this "Action-dimension" for certain groups, including finitely generated solvable groups, free groups, finite groups, and connected Lie groups.  As a consequence we give a positive answer to a conjecture of J Kollar: Let f: R^n ---> T^n be the universal covering and M a closed submanifold in T^n = (S^1)^n  such that f^{-1}(M) has the homotopy type of a finite complex, then M = T^n.

Speaker: William Browder, Princeton University
Location:
Fine Hall 214
September 27, 2012
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Splittings of the polyhedral product functor
Algebraic Topology Seminar

I will talk about joint work with Bahri, Cohen and Gitler.  We showed that the polyhedral product functor (a generalization of the Moment Angle Complex) stably splits into pieces which are understood for restricted cases.  I will talk about further splitting of the pieces that appear in the splitting and describe the homology group.

Speaker: Martin Bendersky, CUNY Graduate Center
Location:
Fine Hall 214
October 4, 2012
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Poincare and Hodge rings and their applications
Algebraic Topology Seminar

We determine the structure of the rings of Poincare and Hodge polynomials, and analyze the tautological comparison map between them. This leads to interesting results about the Hodge numbers of Kaehler manifolds and of algebraic varieties, and in particular to the complete solution of a classical problem of Hirzebruch's.

Speaker: Dieter Kotschick, IAS
Location:
Fine Hall 214
November 8, 2012
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Combinatorial number theory arising from algebraic topology.
Algebraic Topology Seminar

We will show how studying v1-periodic homotopy groups of SU(n) led to the following question. Let f(n) denote the sum of the reciprocals of the binomial coefficients (n choose i). For which p-adic integers x does the
sequence f(x_n) approach a p-adic limit? Here x_n are the partial sums for x. The answer when p is odd is quite simple, but when p=2 is complicated and not completely understood.

Speaker: Don Davis , Lehigh University
Location:
Fine Hall 214
November 15, 2012
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Deformations of periodic frameworks
Algebraic Topology Seminar

A d-periodic bar-and-joint framework is an abstraction (and generalization to arbitrary dimension d) of an atom-and-bond crystal structure. We describe a deformation theory for this type of frameworks
and various extensions to volume or symplectic analogues. Questions of generic rigidity highlight the role of sparsity conditions on the underlying quotient graph. This is joint work with Ileana Streinu, Smith College.

Speaker: Ciprian Borcea, Rider University
Location:
Fine Hall 214
November 29, 2012
4:30pm - 5:30pm
Embeddings of Rational Homology Balls
Algebraic Topology Seminar

We will begin with a description of the rational homology balls appearing in Fintushel and Stern's rational blow-down procedure for smooth 4-manifolds, a generalization of the standard blow-down operation. We will then discuss various smooth and symplectic embedding results of these rational homology balls, as well as a description of a symplectic rational blow-up operation. THIS IS A JOINT TOPOLOGY/ALGEBRAIC TOPOLOGY SEMINAR. PLEASE NOTE DIFFERENT TIME AND LOCATION.

Speaker: Tatyana Khodorovskiy , CUNY
Location:
Fine Hall 314
December 6, 2012
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Toric Structures on Symplectic Bundles of Projective Spaces
Algebraic Topology Seminar

Recently, extending work by Karshon, Kessler and Pinsonnault, Borisov and McDuff showed that a given symplectic manifold $(M,\omega)$ has a finite number of distinct toric structures. Moreover, McDuff also showed a product of two projective spaces $\mathbb{C} P^r\times \mathbb{C} P^s$ with any given symplectic form has a unique toric structure provided that $r,s\geq 2$. In contrast, the product $\mathbb{C} P^r \times \mathbb{C} P^1$ can be given infinitely many distinct toric structures, though only a finite number of these are compatible with each given symplectic form $\omega$. In this talk, we will discuss how to extend these results by considering the possible toric structures on a toric symplectic manifold $(M,\omega)$ with $\dim H^2(M)=2$.

Speaker: Andrew Fanoe, Columbia University
Location:
Fine Hall 214
February 14, 2013
3:00pm - 4:00pm
On the conservation of (equivariant) homeomorphism classes of M(J)-manifolds
Algebraic Topology Seminar

A /toric manifold / is a closed manifold of dimension 2n which admits a locally standard half dimensional torus action whose orbit space can be identified with an n-dimensional simple polytope. PLEASE CLICK ON SEMINAR TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Jongbaek Song, KAIST, Korea
Location:
Fine Hall 214
February 21, 2013
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Wedge operations and torus symmetries
Algebraic Topology Seminar

A fundamental result of toric geometry is that there is a bijection between toric varieties and fans. PLEASE CLICK ON SEMINAR TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Suyoung Choi, Ajou University, Korea
Location:
Fine Hall 214
March 7, 2013
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Power operations and the Kunneth spectral sequence
Algebraic Topology Seminar

Power operations have been constructed and successfully utilized in the Adams and Homological Homotopy Fixed Point Spectral Sequences by Bruner and Bruner-Rognes. PLEASE CLICK ON SEMINAR TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Sean Tilson, Wayne State University
Location:
Fine Hall 214
April 4, 2013
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Hypergraphs and the Regularity of Square-free Monomial Ideals
Algebraic Topology Seminar

This talk represents joint work with Kuei-Nuan Lin. Fix a polynomial ring R over a field and consider a homogeneous ideal I. PLEASE CLICK ON SEMINAR TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Jason G McCullough , MSRI, Rider University
Location:
Fine Hall 214
April 11, 2013
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Stasheff-Steenrod ideas applied to nonlinearity
Algebraic Topology Seminar

We are partially successful in applying such ideas to construct effective theories for evolution processes defined by certain nonlinear PDEs. The effective theories at different scales are meant to be related by mappings
which respect the effective models. In particular we apply these ideas to  incompressible fluid flow in 3D.

Speaker: Dennis Sullivan, CUNY/Stony Brook
Location:
Fine Hall 214
April 18, 2013
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Cohomology for GL(4) and Galois Representations
Algebraic Topology Seminar

In a series of papers, Ash, Gunnells and McConnell have studied cohomology groups for congruence subgroups Gamma of SL(4,Z), and have verified experimentally that Hecke eigenclasses for these cohomology groups seem to have attached Galois representations. PLEASE CLICK ON SEMINAR TITLE FOR COMPLETE ABSTRACT.

Speaker: Mark McConnell, Princeton University and CCR
Location:
Fine Hall 214
April 25, 2013
3:00pm - 4:00pm
The Geometry of Fox's Free Calculus with Applications to Higher Dimension Knots
Algebraic Topology Seminar

This talk with discuss the geometry hidden within Fox's free calculus, and its use in higher dimensional knot theory.

Speaker: Sam Lomonaco , Princeton, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Location:
Fine Hall 214
May 2, 2013
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Normal Smoothings for Smooth Cube Manifolds
Algebraic Topology Seminar

A smooth cube manifold M is a smooth n-manifold M together with a smooth cubification on M. The cube structure provides rays that are normal to the open k-subcubes. Using these rays we can construct "normal charts" in an obvious and natural way. A complete set of normal charts gives a (topological) "normal atlas" on M. If this atlas is smooth it is called a "normal smooth atlas" on M and induces a "normal smooth structure" on M (normal with respect to the cube structure). We prove that every smooth cube manifold has a normal smooth structure, which is diffeomorphic to the original one. This result also holds for smooth all-right-spherical manifolds.

Speaker: Pedro Ontaneda , SUNY Binghamton
Location:
Fine Hall 214
May 16, 2013
3:00pm - 4:00pm
Some remarks on the Postnikov tower
Algebraic Topology Seminar

We will discuss a geometric approach to the Postnikov tower which admits a natural extension to the homotopy theory of schemes.

Speaker: Pablo Pelaez, Rutgers University
Location:
Fine Hall 214