SISSA COLLOQUIUM

[Alex Meehan]

SISSA COLLOQUIUM

Thursday, 15 October, 16.30 - Lecture Room D, SISSA Main Building

The seminar will be preceded by a get-together at 4.10pm in front of 
room D for tea and coffee.

Prof. Barbara Fantechi  - Mathematical Physics Sector, SISSA

Title:
"Local vs global: zen and the art of algebraic geometry"

Abstract:
In a geometric object, some properties are local and some are global. 
For instance, it is enough to use a local property like dimension to 
distinguish a sphere from a circle, while we need global information to 
distinguish a sphere from a torus (doughnut shape).

After a brief historical introduction, we will describe a problem (how 
to define fundamental classes for geometric objects whose expected 
dimension does not match the actual dimension) where we have to derive 
global results from local properties. We explain how the problem was 
solved, and outline the directions current research is taking. Finally, 
we discuss why such a problem is of interest in theoretical physics.