Department of

Mathematics

Seminar Calendar
for events the day of Friday, March 3, 2017.

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events for the
events containing

Questions regarding events or the calendar should be directed to Tori Corkery.
    February 2017            March 2017             April 2017
Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa   Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa   Su Mo Tu We Th Fr Sa
1  2  3  4             1  2  3  4                      1
5  6  7  8  9 10 11    5  6  7  8  9 10 11    2  3  4  5  6  7  8
12 13 14 15 16 17 18   12 13 14 15 16 17 18    9 10 11 12 13 14 15
19 20 21 22 23 24 25   19 20 21 22 23 24 25   16 17 18 19 20 21 22
26 27 28               26 27 28 29 30 31      23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30


Friday, March 3, 2017

1:00 pm in 347 Altgeld Hall,Friday, March 3, 2017

Embedded resolution of singularities in dimension two

Bernd Schober (University of Toronto)

Abstract: When studying a singular variety one aims to find a variety that shares many properties with the original one, but that is easier to handle. One way to obtain this is via resolution of singularities. In contrast to the quite well understood situation over fields of characteristic zero, only little is known in positive or mixed characteristic and resolution of singularities remains still an important open problem. One of the key ideas over fields of characteristic zero is the notion of maximal contact. After briefly explaining its power, I will point out problems that arise in positive characteristic. Then I will focus on the known two-dimensional case and will discuss the resolution algorithm constructed by Cossart, Jannsen and Saito. Finally, I will explain how polyhedra can be used to detect the improvement of the singularity along the process. This is joint work with Vincent Cossart.

4:00 pm in 241 Altgeld Hall,Friday, March 3, 2017

Quantum Field Theory and Triangulations of Surfaces

Matej Penciak (UIUC Math)

Abstract: In this talk I'll describe how methods of quantum field theory can help understand random triangulations of surfaces. I will motivate the study with some natural questions that arise in string theory, and how the methods can resolve conjectures about the cohomology of the moduli space of Riemann surfaces.