Women Seminars Fall 2006 Schedule
Meeting: Tuesday 5:00 pm in 243 Altgeld Hall
- September 5, 2006
Organizational Meeting
- September 12, 2006
Anca Mustata (UIUC Math)
Title:Algebraic Stacks
Abstract: Algebraic stacks are a useful extension of the
notion of scheme in algebraic geometry. An example is the quotient of a
scheme by the action of an affine algebraic group with finite stabilizers.
In this talk I will present a basic stack construction via the notion of
groupoid scheme. Even though the word is used in abundance, you do not
need to know what a scheme is to follow this talk. You may replace it by
mostly any other notion of space you may like: manifold, complex analytic
space, or even topological space.
- October 10, 2006
Rosona Eldred (UIUC Math)
Title:H-spaces and Coherence
Abstract: A group is a monoid is an H-space. Monoids and
groups have a set amount of associativity; different H-spaces can have
differing levels of associativity that is communicated by coherence laws.
These can be thought of as commutative polyhedral diagrams, or as maps
involving different dimensional discs. As you vary the amount of coherence
you want on your H-space, you get varying sorts of corresponding
topological structures. For instance, an H-space with every possible
coherence looks like an infinite loop space (maps from the infinite
dimensional sphere into a space X). This talk is based somewhat off of
week121 of John Baez's finds in mathematical physics.
- October 17, 2006
Jennifer Vandenbussche (UIUC Math)
Title:Friendship in Combinatorics
Abstract: The Friendship Theorem in combinatorics states
that if every two people at a party have exactly one common friend, then
there is one person who is friends with everyone. In 1978, Vera Sos
suggested a generalization of this idea using hypergraphs. In this talk, I
will briefly discuss the Friendship Theorem before introducing the concept
of hypergraphs. I will discuss recent progress on Sos's generalization
(joint work with Stephen Hartke). In particular, I will show how Integer
Programming can be used to investigate combinatorial problems. This talk
will be accessible to anyone but hopefully still interesting to
combinatorialists - and I promise to use the words "eigenvalue" and
"group" at least once for the algebraists in the crowd.
- October 31, 2006
Erin Wolf Chambers (UIUC CS)
Title:Computing interesting topological features
Abstract: Computational topology is a relatively new area
in the intersection of theoretical computer science and topology that
merges classical methods in topology with algorithmic questions motivated
by applications in graphics, sensor networks, robotics, genetics, and many
other areas. I will provide a survey of some algorithmic questions which
have been addressed, such as computing shortest cycles which have
interesting properties such as being non-contractible, separating, etc.
(All CS and topology definitions will be provided, so very little
background is necesesary.)
- November 14, 2006
Sonja Stimac (UIUC Math)
Title:On Ingram's Conjecture
Abstract: Ingram's conjecture states that inverse limit
spaces of two tent maps with different slopes are not homeomorphic. In
recent years there has been intensive research of topological properties
of inverse limit spaces of tent maps with classification of these spaces
as ultimate goal. I will give a survey of recent results, and discuss the
current joint work with B. Raines, on how the use of symbolic dynamics can
give some insight in the structure of the inverse limit spaces of tent
maps with critical points approaching periodic points.