Abstract: In this pair of talks I will discuss how to obtain fixed-point expressions for open Gromov-Witten invariants. The talks will be self-contained, and the second talk will only require a small part of the first talk, which we will review. The Atiyah-Bott localization formula has become a valuable tool for computation of symplectic invariants given in terms of integrals on the moduli spaces of closed stable maps. In contrast, the moduli spaces of open stable maps have boundary which must be taken into account in order to apply fixed-point localization. Homological perturbation

Abstract: One of the first applications of model categories was Quillen homology. Building on the notion of Beck modules, one defines the cotangent complex of an associative or commutative (dg)-algebras as the derived functor of its abelianization. The latter is a module over the original algebra, and its homology groups are called the (Andre'-)Quillen homology. The caveat of this approach is that the cotangent complex is not defined as a functor on the category of all algebras.

Abstract: An elastic energy functional of a Riemannian manifold  is a function that measures the distance of an embedding u:→ℝd from being isometric. In many applications, the manifold in consideration is actually a limit of other manifolds, that is,  is a limit of n in some sense. Assuming that we have an elastic energy functional for each n, can we obtain an energy functional of  which is a limit of the functionals of n?

Abstract: The contact mapping class group of a contact manifold V is the set of contact isotopy classes of its contactomorphisms. When V is the 2n-dimensional (n at least 2) Am Milnor fiber times the circle, with a natural contact structure, we show that the full braid group Bm+1 on m+1strands embeds into the contact mapping class group of V. We deduce that when n=2, the subgroup Pm+1 of pure braids is mapped to the part of the contact mapping class group consisting of smoothly trivial classes. This solves the contact isotopy problem for V.

Abstract: For a toric Fano manifold $X$ denote by $Crit(X) \subset (\mathbb{C}^{\ast})^n$ the solution scheme of the Landau-Ginzburg system of equations of $X$. Examples of toric Fano manifolds with $rk(Pic(X)) \leq 3$ which admit full strongly exceptional collections of line bundles were recently found by various authors. For these examples we construct a map $E : Crit(X) \rightarrow Pic(X)$ whose image $\mathcal{E}=\left \{ E(z) \vert z \in Crit(X) \right \}$ is a full strongly exceptional collection satisfying the M-aligned property.

Abstract: In the paper "Formal noncommutative symplectic geometry'', Maxim Kontsevich introduced three versions of cochain complexes GCCom, GCLie and GCAs "assembled from'' graphs with some additional structures. The graph complex GCCom (resp. GCLie, GCAs) is related to the operad Com (resp. Lie, As) governing commutative (resp. Lie, associative) algebras. Although the graphs complexes GCCom, GCLie and GCAs (and their generalizations) are easy to define, it is hard to get very much information about their cohomology spaces.

Speaker: Oren Becker Title: Locally testable groups Abstract: Arzhantseva and Paunescu [AP2015] showed that if two permutations X and Y in Sym(n) nearly commute (i.e. XY is close to YX), then the pair (X,Y) is close to a pair of permutations that really commute.

To every topological group, one can associate a unique universal minimal flow (UMF): a flow that maps onto every minimal flow of the group. For some groups (for example, the locally compact ones), this flow is not metrizable and does not admit a concrete description. However, for many "large" Polish groups, the UMF is metrizable, can be computed, and carries interesting combinatorial information. The talk will concentrate on some new results that give a characterization of metrizable UMFs of Polish groups. It is based on two papers, one joint

To every topological group, one can associate a unique universal minimal flow (UMF): a flow that maps onto every minimal flow of the group. For some groups (for example, the locally compact ones), this flow is not metrizable and does not admit a concrete description. However, for many "large" Polish groups, the UMF is metrizable, can be computed, and carries interesting combinatorial information. The talk will concentrate on some new results that give a characterization of metrizable UMFs of Polish groups. It is based on two papers, one joint

Speaker: Arie Levit Weizmann Institute Title: Local rigidity of uniform lattices Abstract: A lattice is topologically locally rigid (t.l.r) if small deformations of it are isomorphic lattices. Uniform lattices in Lie groups were shown to be t.l.r by Weil [60']. We show that uniform lattices are t.l.r in any compactly generated topological group.

Abstract: In this talk I'll present a joint work with Ariel Yadin, in which we solve the Furstenberg Entropy Realization Problem for finitely supported random walks (finite range jumps) on free groups and lamplighter groups. This generalizes a previous result of Bowen. The proof consists of several reductions which have geometric and probabilistic flavors of independent interests. All notions will be explained in the talk, no prior knowledge of Invariant Random Subgroups or Furstenberg Entropy is assumed.