Summer Lectures in Geometry 

22/06/2001, 13:30 — 14:30 — Amphitheatre Pa2, Mathematics Building
Charles Epstein, University of Pennsylvania

Survey of the geometric and analytic results in contact structures (III)

The relative index. The theory of relative index is presented in detail. Using this concept we give an analytic proof that the set of fillable deformations of the CR-structure on certain three manifolds is a closed set. If time permits we will discuss connections between the relative index and the contact mapping class group.