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University of Georgia
Department of Mathematics

Seminar Schedule
January 30, 2006 – February 3, 2006

All Seminars are held in Boyd Graduate Studies Bldg. unless otherwise noted.

MONDAY, January 30, 2006

Topology/Geometry
2:30pm, Room 222
Speaker: Nathan Geer (Georgia Tech)
Title of talk: Knot invariants arising from Lie superalgebras.
Abstract: The Jones, Kauffman, and HOMFLY knot invariants are examples of knot invariants arising from finite dimensional representations of Lie algebras. Invariants arising from Lie algebras can be extended to Lie superalgebras. These new invariants are more powerful than invariants arising from Lie algebras. In this talk, I will discuss some new developments involving invariants arising from Lie superalgebras. In particular, I will give the definitions of Vassiliev invariants and weight systems. Then I will explain the construction of the Reshetikhin-Turaev quantum invariant associated to a representation of a Lie superalgebra. Finally, I will discuss how the coefficients of such an invariant are Vassiliev invariants which can be studied via the
Kontsevich integral and their corresponding weight systems.

 Algebra
2:30pm, Room 410
No meeting this week

Ed Azoff® Tea Social
3:00pm, Room 409
Coffee, Cookies, Tea

Colloquium
3:30pm, Room 302
Speaker: Paul Balmer, ETH Zurich
Title of talk: Triangular geometry and applications
Abstract: We shall start with the concept of triangulated category, reviewing examples from Algebraic Geometry, Homotopy Theory, Modular Representation Theory, Motivic Theory and more. We will then introduce the basic ideas of how to do "geometry of triangulated categories". Finally, we will see how these techniques can be useful in some of the above examples.


TUESDAY, January 31, 2006

VIGRE-Graduate Student Seminar
2:00p.m., Room 304
Speaker: Tatyana Sorokina, University of Georgia
Title of talk: Multivariate Polynomial Spline Approximation
Abstract: The talk is designed to provide an overview of multivariate polynomial splines. We will discuss basic concepts, main research directions, open problems, and applications.

WEDNESDAY, February 1, 2006

Geometry in the Curriculum
1:25pm, Aderhold Hall, Room 111
Speaker: Clint McCrory, University of Georgia
Title of talk: Teaching Geometry with Geometer's Sketchpad

Algebraic Geometry
2:30pm, Room 410
Speaker: Michel Brion (Institut Fourier, Grenoble, France)
Title of talk: On the geometry of wonderful varieties
Abstract : Wonderful varieties are smooth projective algebraic varieties where a semisimple group acts with finitely many orbits, such that the orbit closures look like the coordinate subspaces of a vector space. Examples include flag varieties, and compactifications of symmetric spaces. The classification of wonderful varieties is an open question, where many partial results are known. The talk will give an overview of these results, and present a geometric approach to the combinatorial invariants of wonderful varieties.

John Gosselin® Tea Social
3:00pm, Room 409
Cookies, Coffee, Tea

Arithmetic Geometry/Number Theory
3:30pm, Room 304
Speaker: Dino Lorenzini, University of Georgia
Title of talk: Some remarks on rational points on certain curvesrelated to rational distance sets.

VIGRE- Algebra
2:30:pm, Room 303
Speaker: Lenny Chastkofsky, University of Georgia
Title of talk: Cohomology computations with MAGMA


THURSDAY, February 2, 2006

VIGRE – Feynman Diagrams
2:00pm, Room 326

VIGRE – Cardiac Physiology
2:00pm, Room 640

VIGRE- Zeta Functions
2:15pm, Room 302

VIGRE-Algebraic Geometry
3:30pm, Room 324

MATH Club Meeting
5:30pm, Room 304
John Jiang will present a lecture entitled Physics Made Rigorous – A Practical Introduction to Functional Analysis
Free Pizza and Refreshments!!!

FRIDAY, February 3, 2006

Probability Theory
2:30-3:30pm, Room 303
Speaker: Qing Zhang, University of Georgia
Title of talk: Hybrid Filtering