Tuesday, Feb 21, 2012
The departments of Mathematics at Rider and Princeton Universities will co-host a workshop that brings together several of the foremost experts in Toric Topology and Homotopy Theory from February 22 to 25 at both institutions.
The departments of Mathematics at Rider and Princeton Universities will co-host a workshop that brings together several of the foremost experts in Toric Topology and Homotopy Theory from February 22 to 25 at both institutions. The three-day workshop will focus on a relatively new area of mathematics that encompasses various fields of mathematics including algebraic topology, algebraic geometry, symplectic geometry, combinatorics, robotics and theoretical physics.
Toric spaces are typically very large dimensional geometrical objects, which generally are not visualizable. As an example, one type of toric space is made from ordinary circles and discs according to a recipe that is encoded in a combinatorial object known as a polytope. Products of circles and discs are “glued” together in a way dictated by the combinatorial information. The complex movements of certain robots, for example, is governed by the structure of this sort of toric space.
Since large dimensional toric spaces cannot be pictured easily, mathematicians have constructed algebraic methods to analyze their “shape.” As noted above, the algebraic information comes from a combinatorial recipe; two toric spaces with distinct algebraic information cannot have the same shape. Several lectures at the workshop will concern the way in which the algebraic information is determined from the combinatorial recipe.
The workshop is sponsored by the Princeton Algebraic Topology Seminar, and is organized by Dr. Tony Bahri, professor of Mathematics at Rider University; Dr. Martin Bendersky, professor of Mathematics at the Graduate Center, City University of New York; and Dr. William Browder, professor of Mathematics at Princeton University. For more information on the Algebraic Topology Seminar, visit http://www.math.princeton.edu/~seminar/AlgebraicTopology.html.
The workshop talks will be of a specialized nature and research-based. The event is free and open to the public and attendees are asked to register with one of the organizers:
- Dr. Tony Bahri – [email protected]
- Dr. Martin Bendersky – [email protected]
- Dr. William Browder – [email protected]
Workshop Schedule
Princeton-Rider Workshop on Homotopy Theory and Toric Spaces
February 23 to 25, 2012
An informal workshop on the applications of homotopy theory to the study of spaces that
arise in toric topology and geometry.
Thursday, February 23
Session Title: Polyhedral Products, Quasi-toric Manifolds and Twisted Cohomology
Presenter: Alex Suciu, Northeastern University
Time and Location: 3 to 4 p.m. in Fine Hall, Room 214, Princeton University
Session Title: Intersections of Quadrics: 25 Years Later
Presenter: Santiago Lopez de Medrano, UNAM, Mexico
Time and Location: 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Fine Hall, Room 314, Princeton University
Friday, February 24
10 a.m. - Coffee
Session Title: Polyhedral products: Decompositions, monodromy, and cohomology
Presenter: Fred Cohen, University of Rochester
Time and Location: 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in Sweigart Auditorium, Rider University
Session Title: Symplectic Techniques in Toric Topology
Presenter: Tara Holm, Cornell University
Time and Location: Noon to 1 p.m. in Sweigart Auditorium, Rider University
1 to 3 p.m. - Lunch
Session Title: TBA
Presenter: Sam Gitler, CINVESTAV, Mexico
Time and Location: 3 to 4 p.m. in Sweigart Auditorium, Rider University
Session Title: Toric Ridgidity of Simple Polytopes and Moment-angle Manifolds
Presenter: Suyoung Choi, Ajou University, Korea
Time and Location: 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. in Sweigart Auditorium, Rider University
6:30 p.m. - Dinner
Saturday, February 25
10 a.m. - Coffee
Session Title: On the Diameter of Polytopes
Presenter: Benjamin Matschke, School of Mathematics, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N.J.
Time and Location: 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. in Fine Hall, Room 314, Princeton University
Session Title: Spanning Sets of Distinct Points in Spheres
Presenter: Peter Landweber, Rutgers University
Time and Location: Noon to 1 p.m. in Fine Hall, Room 314, Princeton University