The moduli space of curves, first appearing in the work of Riemann in the 19th century, plays an important role in geometry. After an introduction to the moduli space, I will discuss recent directions in the study of tautological classes on the moduli space following ideas and conjectures of Mumford, Faber-Zagier, and Pixton. Cohomological Field Theories (CohFTs) play an important role. The talk is about the search for a cohomology calculus for the moduli space of curves parallel to what is known for better understood geometries. My goal is to give a presentation of the progress in the past decade and the current state of the field.
Zabrodsky Lecture 1: Geometry of the moduli space of curves
Date:
Thu, 18/10/201814:30-15:30
Location:
Manchester House, Lecture Hall 2
Lecturer:
Rahul Pandharipande (ETH Zurich)