Topology of the space of metrics of positive scalar curvature
Topology of the space of metrics of positive scalar curvature
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Boris Botvinnik , University of Oregon
This is a joint Algebraic Topology / Topology seminar. We use recent results on the moduli spaces of manifolds, relevant index and surgery theory to study the index-difference map from the space ${\mathcal R}iem^+(W^d)$ of psc-metrics to the space $\Omega^{d+1}KO$ representing the real $K$-theory. In particular, we show that the index map induces nontrivial homomorphism in homotopy groups $\pi_k {\mathcal R}iem^+(W^d) \to \pi_k \Omega^{d+1}KO$ once the target groups $\pi_k \Omega^{d+1}KO= KO_{k+d+1}$ are not trivial. This work is joint with J. Ebert and O. Randall-Williams. In this talk, I also plan to discuss some recent applications of those results.