Columbia Geometric Topology Seminar

Spring 2025

 

Organizers: Ross Akhmechet, Deeparaj BhatSiddhi KrishnaFrancesco Lin

The GT seminar typically meets on Fridays at 2:00pm Eastern time in Room 407, Mathematics Department, Columbia University. 

Other area seminars. Our e-mail list. Archive of previous semesters

Spring 2025

Date Time (Eastern) Speaker Title

January 24

2pm

no seminar

first week of classes

January 31

4pm in Room 407 (note unusual time!!) Jonathan Zung (MIT)

Expansion and torsion homology of 3-manifolds

February 7

2pm

Juan Munoz-Echaniz (SCGP)

Monodromy of singularities and Seiberg—Witten theory

February 14

2pm Luya Wang (IAS)

 

February 21

2pm Seraphina Lee (UChicago)

 

February 28

2pm  

 

March 7

2pm Dave Rose (UNC Chapel Hill)  

March 14

2pm  Boyu Zhang (Maryland)

 

March 21

2pm no seminar happy spring break!

March 28

2pm

no seminar

Simons annual meeting

April 4

2pm 

Mike Miller Eismeier (Vermont)

 

April 11

2pm

Laura Wakelin (King's College London) (TBC)

 

April 18

2pm

Bena Tshishiku (Brown)  
April 25

2pm

Thomas Massoni (MIT)  

May 2

2pm

 

 

May 9

2pm  

 

Abstracts

 

Name: Jonathan Zung

Date: January 31

TitleExpansion and torsion homology of 3-manifolds

Abstract: nally null-homologous i-cycle bounds an i+1 chain of comparatively small volume. The interactions between expansion, spectral geometry, and topology have long been studied in the settings of graphs and surfaces. In this talk, I will explain how to construct rational homology 3-spheres which are good higher expanders. On the other hand, I will show that such higher expanders must be rather topologically complicated: they must have lots of torsion homology.

 

Name: Juan Munoz-Echaniz

Date: February 7

Title Monodromy of singularities and Seiberg—Witten theory

Abstract: The monodromy of a complex isolated hypersurface singularity captures geometric and topological information about how the nearby smooth fibers degenerate into the singularity. The homological monodromy—the action on the homology of the Milnor fiber—has been extensively studied ever since pioneering work of Brieskorn and Milnor. However, the monodromy diffeomorphism itself—acting on the Milnor fiber as a mapping class—is comparatively less understood. In this talk I will discuss the following result: the monodromy diffeomorphism of a weighted-homogeneous isolated hypersurface singularity of complex dimension 2 has infinite order in the smooth mapping class group of the Milnor fiber (fixing the boundary) provided the singularity is not ADE. (In turn, the monodromy of an ADE singularity has finite order in the smooth mapping class group, by a classical result of Brieskorn). The proof involves studying the Seiberg—Witten equation along the fibers of the Milnor fibration, by a combination of techniques from Floer homology, symplectic and contact geometry. This is based on joint work with Hokuto Konno, Jianfeng Lin and Anubhav Mukherjee.

 

 

 

 

 

Other relevant information.

Previous semesters:

Fall 2024Fall 2023Spring 2023Fall 2022Spring 2022Fall 2021, Spring 2021, Fall 2020Spring 2020Fall 2019Spring 2019, Fall 2018, Spring 2018, Fall 2017, Spring 2017, Fall 2016, Spring 2016, Fall 2015, Spring 2015, Fall 2014, Spring 2014, Fall 2013, Spring 2013, Fall 2012, Spring 2012, Fall 2011, 2010/11, Spring 2010, Fall 2009, Spring 2009, Fall 2008, Spring 2008, Fall 2007, Spring 2007, Fall 2006.

Other area seminars.

Our e-mail list: You can subscribe here for announcements for this seminar, as well as occasional related seminars and events.