Skip to Content

Sponsors

No results

Tags

No results

Types

No results

Search Results

Events

No results
Search events using: keywords, sponsors, locations or event type
When / Where
All occurrences of this event have passed.
This listing is displayed for historical purposes.

Presented By: Topology Seminar - Department of Mathematics

The Burau representation and shapes of polyhedra

Ethan Dlugie (UC Berkeley)

The talk might involve braids The talk might involve braids
The talk might involve braids
 Tim Boote on Unsplash
The Burau representation is a kind of homological representation of braid groups that has been around for around a century. It remains mysterious in many ways and is of particular interest because of its relation to quantum invariants of knots and links such as the Jones polynomial. In recent work, I came across a relationship between this representation and a moduli space of Euclidean cone metrics on spheres (think e.g. convex polyhedra) first examined by Thurston. After introducing the relevant definitions, I'll explain a bit about this connection and how I used the geometric structure on this moduli space to exactly identify the kernel of the Burau representation after evaluating its formal parameter at complex roots of unity. There will be many pictures!
The talk might involve braids The talk might involve braids
The talk might involve braids
 Tim Boote on Unsplash

Explore Similar Events

  •  Loading Similar Events...

Back to Main Content