14/01/2010, 15:00 — 16:00 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática Gonçalo Tabuada, Universidade Nova de Lisboa
Non-commutative motives
In this talk I will describe the construction of the category of non-commutative motives in Drinfeld-Kontsevich's non-commutative algebraic geometry program. In the process, I will present the first conceptual characterization of Quillen's higher K-theory since Quillen's foundational work in the 70's. As an application, I will show how these results allow us to obtain for free the higher Chern character from K-theory to cyclic homology.
17/12/2009, 15:00 — 16:00 — Sala P4.35, Pavilhão de Matemática Ricardo Andrade, MIT
Hochschild homology and geometry of manifolds
We will analyse the relationship between Hochschild Homology and the manifold . From this we can see how to associate naturally to manifolds (with certain geometric structures) operations generalizing Hochschild Homology. These operations are defined on certain algebraic structures related to spaces of embeddings.
26/11/2009, 15:00 — 16:00 — Sala P4.35, Pavilhão de Matemática Gustavo Granja, Instituto Superior Técnico
Quaternionic Algebra
I will survey Dominic Joyce's theory of quaternionic algebra, which provides the algebraic framework for studying quaternionic holomorphic functions on hyperkahler manifolds, as well as Quillen's description of the theory in terms of equivariant sheaves on the Riemann sphere.
22/10/2009, 14:30 — 15:30 — Sala P4.35, Pavilhão de Matemática Stavros Papadakis, Instituto Superior Técnico
Unprojection and Stanley-Reisner rings of Gorenstein simplicial complexes
Unprojection theory aims to analyze complicated commutative rings in terms of simpler ones. The talk will be about joint work in progress with Janko Boehm (Saarbruecken) that relates, on the algebraic level of Stanley--Reisner rings, stellar subdivisions of a certain class of simplicial complexes (which includes all sphere triangulations) with Kustin--Miller unprojection. I will also mention a related result about boundary complexes of cyclic polytopes.
30/09/2009, 15:00 — 16:00 — Sala P4.35, Pavilhão de Matemática Paulo Lima-Filho, Texas A&M University
Arithmetic Toric Varieties
Given an arbitrary field and a fan , we study the classification of the various "toric -forms" of the toric variety , where is the algebraic closure of and . This classification generalizes the work of Delaunay on "real toric varieties" and has a particularly simple description in the case of complete non-singular toric surfaces. We show how to use the Cox construction to perform explicit calculations and make a few applications. This is joint work with Javier Elizondo, Frank Sottile and Zach Teitler.
01/07/2009, 16:00 — 17:00 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática Behrang Noohi, Kings College, London
Group stacks in Geometry
As higher analogues of group schemes, group stacks arise in several contexts in geometry. E.g., symmetries of stacks, structure group stacks of higher principal bundles, stacky abelianization of reductive groups (Deligne), and so on. Working with group stacks is, however, considerably more difficult than working with group schemes, especially when one needs to do explicit calculations. In these talks we introduce some general techniques for dealing with this problem. We discuss applications to 'group actions on stacks' and to 'classification of forms of stacks over a field'. Notes
23/06/2009, 16:30 — 17:30 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática Ines Henriques, University of Nebraska
Cohomology over short Gorenstein rings
We identify a class of local rings with exhibiting the Koszul like property that is in for all finite -modules ; where denotes the Hilbert series of and the Poincaré series of over . This class includes generic graded Gorenstein algebras of socle degree . We show the minimal free resolutions of finite modules over such rings admit Koszul syzygy modules.
20/05/2009, 14:30 — 15:30 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática J. Maurice Rojas, Texas A&M University
Number Theory, Randomization, and Real Topology Computation
Computing the topology of a real algebraic set given as the zero set of a list of polynomials remains a challenging problem, even for polynomials in 3 variables. Nevertheless, we can show that for certain systems of sparse polynomials, one can efficiently compute the topology in polynomial-time with high probability. This is recent joint work with Martin Avendano. We illustrate the algorithm through various examples, and see how a special case leads to the use of Diophantine approximation. We then show how, in more general cases, it is natural to expect a set of small set of inputs where the algorithm slows down. We assume no background in number theory or algorithms.
25/02/2009, 15:00 — 16:00 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática Francois-Xavier Dehon, Université de Nice
Maps from the classifying space of an elementary abelian group, cohomology theories and elementary abelian subgroups of compact Lie groups
After the work of H. Miller and J. Lannes in the 80's we know that the homotopy classes of maps from BV (V some elementary abelian p-group) to some space are detected by ordinary mod p cohomology. I will review what happens when mod p cohomology is replaced by a complex oriented cohomology theory. As an interesting special case I will consider morphisms from elementary abelian p-groups to compact Lie groups.
21/07/2008, 15:00 — 16:00 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática David Gepner, University of Sheffield.
On the motivic spectra representing algebraic K-theory and algebraic cobordism
We show that algebraic K-theory and periodic algebraic cobordism are localizations of motivic suspension spectra obtained by inverting the Bott element, generalizing theorems of V. Snaith in the topological case. This yields an easy proof of the motivic Conner-Floyd theorem and also implies that algebraic K-theory is E-infinity as a motivic spectrum.
15/07/2008, 15:00 — 16:00 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática Sean Lawton, CAMGSD,IST
Algebraic Independence in -Character Varieties of Free Groups
The representations from a free group into are an affine variety. The ring of invariants of the conjugation action is generated by traces of words in generic matrices. We have described minimal sets of these generators; providing global coordinates for the moduli of representations. In this talk, we describe maximal algebraically independent subsets of the minimal generators. In contrast, these sets should be thought of as local parameters for the moduli.
10/07/2008, 15:00 — 16:00 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática Paulo Lima-Filho, Texas A&M University
Deligne cohomology and the Picard-Witt group of real varieties
We introduce a version of Deligne cohomology for smooth proper real varieties which is related to bigraded Bredon cohomology in the same fashion that the usual version of Deligne cohomology is related to singular cohomology. For complex manifolds, the Deligne cohomology group can be identified with the group of equivalence classes of pairs , where is a holomorphic line bundle and is a holomorphic connection on . However, when is a Real manifold, the straightforward generalization of this result does not work due to a certain obstruction related to the set of real points of the variety, and one needs an additional geometric piece which would be a certain real quadratic form on the line bundle. We will provide a gentle introduction to Deligne cohomology and some examples.
02/07/2008, 16:00 — 17:00 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática Kathryn Lesh, Union College
An interesting filtration of bu and an analogue of the Whitehead Conjecture
I will discuss connections between the calculus of functors and the Whitehead Conjecture, both for the classical theorem of Kuhn and Priddy for symmetric powers of spheres and for the analogous conjecture in topological K-theory. It turns out that key constructions in Kuhn and Priddy's proof have bu-analogues, and there is a surprising connection to the stable rank filtration of algebraic K-theory.
19/06/2008, 15:00 — 16:00 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática Pedro Ferreira dos Santos, IST, CAMGSD
A model for equivariant Eilenberg-Mac Lane spectra
Given a ring there is a geometric construction of the space that classifies the cohomology functor ; it is just the the free -module generated by the space . For spaces with an action of finite group , the role of cohomology with coefficients in a ring is played by equivariant cohomology with coefficients in an appropriate algebraic object -- called a Mackey functor. In this talk we will describe a geometric construction for the classifying spaces of equivariant cohomology with coefficients in a Mackey functor . This is joint work with Zhaohu Nie.
06/03/2008, 16:00 — 17:00 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática Stavros Papadakis, CAMGSD/IST
An introduction to the McKay correspondence
The original McKay correspondence, due to John McKay in the late 1970s, relates for a finite subgroup of the geometry of the minimal resolution of singularities of the quotient with the representation theory of . The talk will be introductory, and will try to discuss both classical and modern approaches to the topic.
28/02/2008, 16:00 — 17:00 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática Boris Chorny, Australian National University
Smallness in a model category and smallness in the homotopy category
The concept of smallness in homotopy theory generalizes the concept of compactness from classical topology. However, there are two possible generalizations of this notion: one is used in model category theory, while the other one is used in the realm of triangulated categories. The relation between these two concepts remained mysterious for a long time. Mark Hovey has shown in his book on Model categories that smallness in a stable finitely generated model category implies smallness in its homotopy category. Recently Rosicky generalized this result to combinatorial model categories. In this talk we will exhibit an example of a model category Quillen equivalent to the category of spaces with the following property: every homotopy type has a countably small representative. In particular, smallness in this model category does not translate into smallness in the homotopy category. Our example stems from work on enriched Brown representability. Connections with homotopy calculus and orthogonal calculus will also be discussed.
05/12/2007, 15:30 — 16:30 — Sala P4.35, Pavilhão de Matemática Joana Ventura, IST/CAMGSD
Classifying saturated fusion systems over 2-groups
We will give an overview of the relevant definitions, including the notions of critical and -essential subgroups of a given 2-group . Then we will present a systematic procedure to find those subgroups of and how to determined all nonconstrained centerfree fusion systems over , up to isomorphism, using that information. We will finish the talk by applying those methods to some examples.
22/11/2007, 16:00 — 17:00 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática Wojtek Chacholski, KTH Stockholm
How to quantify the complexity of fibrations of topological spaces
To quantify something means to compare it with something else which is presumed to be more fundamental. In my talk I will compare taking extensions by fibrations to the operations of homotopy push-out. I will reformulate the nilpotence theorem of Devinats-Hopkins-Smith in these terms. The aim is to give an overview of what is known and what is not about Dror Farjoun's cellularity of topological spaces.
11/10/2007, 14:15 — 15:15 — Sala P3.10, Pavilhão de Matemática Sean Lawton, CAMGSD
Minimal Affine Coordinates for SL(3,C) Character Varieties of Free Groups
Let X be the moduli of SL(3,C) representations of a free group; that is the character variety. We determine minimal generators of the coordinate ring of X for any rank free group. This at once gives explicit global coordinates for X and determines the dimension of the moduli's minimal affine embedding. In this talk we present the minimal generators and discuss the constructive methods employed to establish the minimal generating set.
27/09/2007, 15:00 — 16:00 — Sala P4.35, Pavilhão de Matemática Mike Paluch, Instituto Superior Técnico
Homotopy spectral sequences, pairing and cap products (II)
For a pointed cosimplicial space , Bousfield and Kan constructed a pointed space , which is analogous to the geometric realization of a simplicial space, and developed a spectral sequence abutting to the homotopy groups of . In addition they showed that this spectral sequence supports a multiplicative pairing. In this talk I wish to present an analogous property for pointed simplicial spaces as well as discussing a cap product pairing for cosimplicial and simplicial pointed spaces and their respective homotopy spectral sequences.