All talks will take place in MATX 1100 in the UBC Mathematics Annex building on the main UBC Vancouver campus. A map is here. Coffee, when available, will be in MATX 1102 (in the same building).
| Saturday 6 May | Sunday 7 May | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 9-10 | Carbohydrates & Coffee | 9:30-10:30 | Mona Merling |
| 10-11 | Jonathan Beardsley | 10:30-11 | Coffee |
| 11:30-12:30 | Henry Adams | 11-12 | Thomas Koberda |
| Lunch | |||
| 2:30-3:30 | Akhil Mathew | ||
| 4-5 | Eugene Gorsky | ||
Colorado State University
Given a metric space $X$ and a distance threshold $r > 0$, the Vietoris-Rips simplicial complex has as its simplices the finite subsets of $X$ of diameter less than $r$. A theorem of Jean-Claude Hausmann states that if $X$ is a Riemannian manifold and $r$ is sufficiently small, then the Vietoris-Rips complex is homotopy equivalent to the original manifold. Janko Latschev proves an analogous theorem for sufficiently dense samplings. Little is known about the behavior of Vietoris-Rips complexes for larger values of $r$, even though these complexes arise naturally when using persistent homology. We describe how as $r$ increases, the Vietoris-Rips complex of the circle obtains the homotopy types of the circle, the 3-sphere, the 5-sphere, the 7-sphere, ..., until finally it is contractible. These homotopy types are related to cyclic and centrally symmetric polytopes and orbitopes. We argue that infinite Vietoris-Rips complexes should be equipped with a different topology: an optimal transport or Wasserstein metric thickening the metric on $X$. With this new metric, we describe the first change in homotopy type (as $r$ increases) of Vietoris-Rips complexes of higher-dimensional spheres. Joint work with Michal Adamaszek and Florian Frick.
University of Washington
I'll describe a method of taking iterated quotients of ring spectra (or any $E_n$-monoid in a stable, presentable infinity category) by actions of $E_n$-monoidal Kan complexes and show that in the presence of a fibration of $E_n$-monoidal Kan complexes one can take recognizable intermediate quotients. This will allow us to think of classical cobordism spectra as “spectral torsors.” If there is time I will describe a conjectural connection to Koszul duality.
University of California, Davis
I will discuss recent results and conjectures relating knot invariants (such as HOMFLY-PT polynomial and Khovanov-Rozansky homology) to algebraic geometry of Hilbert schemes of points on the plane. All notions will be introduced in the talk, no preliminary knowledge is assumed. This is a joint work with Andrei Negut and Jacob Rasmussen.
University of Virginia
I will discuss square roots of Thompson's group $F$, which are certain two-generator subgroups of the homeomorphism group of the interval, the squares of which generate a copy of Thompson's group $F$. We prove that these groups may contain nonabelian free groups, they can fail to be smoothable, and can fail to be finitely presented. This represents joint work with Y. Lodha.
Harvard University
The Grothendieck group $K_0$ of a commutative ring is well-known to be a λ-ring: although the exterior powers are non-additive, they induce maps on $K_0$ satisfying various universal identities. The λ-operations yield homomorphisms on higher $K$-groups. In joint work in progress with Glasman and Nikolaus, we give a general framework for such operations. Namely, we show that the $K$-theory space is naturally functorial for polynomial functors, and describe a universal property of the extended $K$-theory functor. This extends an earlier algebraic result of Dold for $K_0$. In this picture, the λ-operations come from the strict polynomial functors of Friedlander-Suslin.
Johns Hopkins University
I will describe joint work with Cary Malkiewich on equivariant $A$-theory. I will describe an approach which is related the bivariant $A$-theory of Williams and another approach which we expect encodes information about equivariant pseudo-isotopies of $G$-manifolds.
Housing at UBC during the academic term is regrettably expensive, although the exchange rate between the US Dollar and the Canadian goes some way toward offsetting this.
Some support will be available to reimburse advanced undergraduate students, graduate students and postdocs for the cost of accommodation. Please email me at the address above, stating your name and affiliation.