The Einstein Institute of mathematics is happy to host the
Abel in Jerusalem Conference
Registration closed
Each year the Abel Committee holds a symposium, as they meet to decide the next winner of the Abel Prize. Members of the Abel Committee and some of the world's top mathematicians will be speaking.
“Abel in Jerusalem” will be the 10th one-day conference with lectures aimed at a mathematically educated and interested audience, with the objective of increasing public awareness of mathematics and of the Abel Prize.
Program
9:40-10:00 Opening Remarks by Hans Petter Graver, President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters
10:00-11:00 Christopher Hacon (University of Utah):
Geometry of complex algebraic varieties Abstract
11:00-11:30 Coffee Break
11:30-12:30 Ulrike Tillmann (Oxford University):
Manifolds via cobordisms: old and new Abstract
12:30-14:30 Lunch Break
14:30-15:30 Claire Voisin (Collège de France):
Diagonals in algebraic geometry Abstract
15:30-16:00 Coffee Break
16:00-17:00 François Labourie (Université Côte d'Azur):
Counting curves and building surfaces: some works of Maryam Mirzakhani Abstract
17:00-17:15 Closing remarks
17:15 - Transport to a reception at the King David Hotel
17:30 - Reception
19:00 - End of program
Abstracts
Christopher Hacon: Geometry of complex algebraic varieties
Abstract: Algebraic varieties are geometric objects defined by polynomial equations. The minimal model program (MMP) is an ambitous program that aims to classify algebraic varieties. According to the MMP, there are 3 building blocks: Fano varieties, Calabi-Yau varieties and varieties of general type which are higher dimensional analogs of Riemann surfaces of genus 0, 1, and greater or equal to 2. In this talk I will recall the general features of the MMP and discuss recent advances in our understanding of Fano varieties and varieties of general type.
Ulrike Tillmann: Manifolds via cobordisms: old and new
Abstract:
Manifolds are a fundamental mathematical structure of central importance to geometry.
The notion of cobordism has played an important role in their classification since Thom's work in the 1950s. In a different way, cobordisms are key to
Atiyah's axiomatic formulation of topological quantum field theory. We will
explain how the two seemingly unrelated appearances of cobordisms have come together to give us a new approach to study the topology of manifolds and their diffeomorphisms.
In addition to my own work, the talk will draw on results by Madsen, Weiss, Galatius and Randal-Williams.
Claire Voisin: Diagonals in algebraic geometry
Abstract: The diagonal of a manifold appears naturally in topology, for example in the Hopf formula. Furthermore, the Künneth decomposition for the class of the diagonal controls the torsion in integral cohomology. In the context of algebraic geometry, I will discuss a weaker notion of decomposition of the diagonal, which has important applications in the study of rationality of algebraic varieties.
François Labourie: Counting curves and building surfaces: some works of Maryam Mirzakhani
Abstract: I will use some works of Maryam Mirzakhani as a thread to explain very basic and elementary facts of geometry : how to build surfaces, how to count curves on surfaces, what is hyperbolic geometry. The talk will be elementary and most of it will be targeting undergraduate students.