Topology of Algebraic Varieties

Cubic fourfolds behave in many ways like K3 surfaces. Certain cubics - conjecturally, the ones that are rational - have specific K3s associated to them geometrically. Hassett has studied cubics with K3s associated to them at the level of Hodge theory, and Kuznetsov has studied cubics with K3s associated to them at the level of derived categories. I will explain all this via some pretty explicit examples, and then I will explain joint work with Addington showing that these 2 notions of having an associated K3 surface coincide generically.