Texas A&M University, Department of
Mathematics
Groups and Dynamics Seminar
Spring 2008
Time and Place
Unless otherwise stated, the Groups and Dynamics Seminar
meeting
coordinates are
- Time:
Wednesdays 3:00p.m.--3:50p.m.
- Place: 216
Milner Hall
Schedule
- 30th
of January, 2008
Speaker: Zoran
Šunić of Texas A&M University
Title: Embeddings into simple groups. Abstract.
- 6th of February, 2008
Speaker: Volodymyr
Nekrashevych of Texas
A&M University
Title: On the Julia set of
a rational
endomorphism of CP^2. Abstract.
- 20th of February, 2008
Speaker: Yves de Cornulier
of Rennes I, France
Title: Metabelian groups in the space
of finitely
generated groups. Abstract.
- 26th of March, 2008
Speaker: Volodymyr
Nekrashevych of Texas
A&M University
Title: Combinatorial models of expanding
self-coverings. Abstract.
- 2nd of April, 2008
Speaker: Henry
Wilton of University of Texas
Title: Computing solutions to systems
of equations over free and hyperbolic groups. Abstract.
- 15th of April, 2008, 2:00-2:50, 216 Milner Hall
Speaker: Andriĭ Oliĭnyk of
Taras Shevchenko Kyiv State University,Ukraine
Title: On conjugacy in groups and semigroups of automaton transformations. Abstract.
- 15th of April, 2008, 3:00-3:50, 216 Milner Hall
Speaker: Yaroslav Lavrenyuk of
Taras Shevchenko Kyiv State University,Ukraine
Title: On measure preserving self-homeomorphisms of spherically homogeneous tree boundaries. Abstract.
- 16th of April, 2008
Speaker: Angela Barnhill of
Northwestern University
Title: Commensurators of uniform lattices in right-angled buildings. Abstract.
- 23rd of April, 2008
Speaker: Yaroslav Vorobets of
Texas A&M University
Title: Polygonal billiards and Dynkin diagrams. Abstract.
- 30th of April, 2008, 3:00-3:50, 216 Milner Hall
Speaker: Susan Hermiller of
University of Nebraska
Title: The shortest language spoken by a group. Abstract.
- 30th of April, 2008, 4:00-4:50, 216 Milner Hall
Speaker: Martin Schmoll of Clemson
University
Title: Quadratic growth rates via modular fibers. Abstract.
Topics:
GENERAL PROBLEMS Burnside
Problem on torsion groups, Milnor Problem on growth, Kaplanski
Problems on zero divisors, Kaplanski-Kadison Conjecture on
Idempotents, and other famous problems of Algebra, Low-Dimensional
Topology, and Analysis, which have algebraic roots.
GROUPS AND GROUP ACTIONS Group actions on trees
and
other geometric objects, lattices in Lie groups, fundamental groups of
manifolds, and groups of automorphisms of various structures. The key
is
to view everything from different points of view: algebraic,
combinatorial, geometric, and probabalistic.
RANDOMNESS Random walks on groups, statistics on
groups, and statistical models of physics on groups and graphs (such as
the Ising model and Dimer model).
COMBINATORICS Combinatorial properties of
finitely-generated groups and the geometry of their Caley graphs and
Schreier graphs.
GROUP BOUNDARIES Boundaries of
finitely generated groups: Freidental, Poisson, Furstenberg, Gromov,
Martin, etc., boundaries.
AUTOMATA Groups, semigroups, and
finite
(and infinite) automata. This includes the theory of formal languages,
groups generated by finite automata, and automatic groups.
DYNAMICS Connections between group theory and
dynamical systems (in particular the link between fractal groups and
holomorphic dynamics, and between branch groups and substitutional
dynamical systems).
FRACTALS Fractal mathematics, related to
self-similar groups and branch groups.
COHOMOLOGY Bounded cohomology, L^2 cohomology, and
their relation to other subjects, in particular operator algebras.
AMENABILITY Asymptotic properties such as
amenability and
superamenability, Kazhdan property T, growth, and cogrowth.
ANALYSIS Various topics in Analysis related to
groups (in particular spectral theory of discrete Laplace operators on
graphs and groups).
Previous and future years
Spring
2003 Fall
2003 Spring
2004 Fall
2004 Spring
2005 Fall
2005 Spring
2006 Fall
2006 Spring
2007