Previous Special Year Seminar

Jan
14
2015

Topology of Algebraic Varieties

Stable cohomology of compactifications of $\mathcal A_g$
11:15am|S-101

A famous result of Borel says that the cohomology of $\mathcal A_g$ stabilizes. This was generalized to the Satake compactification by Charney and Lee. In this talk we will discuss whether the result can also be extended to toroidal...

Jan
13
2015

Topology of Algebraic Varieties

Normal functions and the geometry of moduli spaces of curves
Richard Hain
2:00pm|S-101

In this talk, I will begin by recalling the classification of normal functions over $\mathcal M_{g,n}$, the moduli space of $n$-pointed smooth projective curves of genus $g$. I'll then explain how they can be used to resolve a question of Eliashberg...

Dec
17
2014

Topology of Algebraic Varieties

Periods, Calabi-Yau fibrations, and mirror symmetry
Charles Doran
11:15am|S-101

A decade ago, John Morgan and I classified all integral weight 3 VHS of Hodge type (1,1,1,1) which can underly a family of Calabi-Yau three folds over the thrice-punctured sphere, subject to conditions on monodromy coming from mirror symmetry. There...

Dec
16
2014

Topology of Algebraic Varieties

Some algebro-geometric aspects of limiting mixed Hodge structure
Phillip Griffiths
2:00pm|S-101

This will be an expository talk, mostly drawn from the literature and with emphasis on the several parameter case of degenerating families of algebraic varieties.

Dec
16
2014

Topology of Algebraic Varieties

The Archimedean Height and singularities in Hodge Theory
Patrick Brosnan
11:00am|Physics Library, Bloomberg Hall 201

In the theory of algebraic cycles, the archimedean height is a real number attached to null-homologous non-intersecting algebraic cycles on a smooth projective variety \(X\) whose dimensions add up to one less than the dimension of \(X\). For...

Dec
10
2014

Topology of Algebraic Varieties

The Andre-Oort conjecture II
11:00am|S-101

The Andre-Oort conjecture describes the expected distribution of special points on Shimura varieties (typically: the distribution in the moduli space of principally polarized Abelian varieties of points corresponding to Abelian varieties with...

Dec
09
2014

Topology of Algebraic Varieties

A support theorem for the Hitchin fibration
2:00pm|S-101

The main tool in Ngô's proof of the Langlands-Shelstad fundamental lemma, is a theorem on the support of the relative cohomology of the elliptic part of the Hitchin fibration. For $\mathrm{GL}(n)$ and a divisor of degree $ > 2g-2$, the theorem says...

Dec
09
2014

Topology of Algebraic Varieties

The Andre-Oort conjecture I
11:00am|Physics Library, Bloomberg Hall 201

The Andre-Oort conjecture describes the expected distribution of special points on Shimura varieties (typically: the distribution in the moduli space of principally polarized Abelian varieties of points corresponding to Abelian varieties with...

Dec
03
2014

Topology of Algebraic Varieties

Minimal log discrepancy of isolated singularities and Reeb orbits
11:15am|S-101

Let $A$ be an affine variety inside a complex $N$ dimensional vector space which either has an isolated singularity at the origin or is smooth at the origin. The intersection of $A$ with a very small sphere turns out to be a contact manifold called...