Toric varieties are algebraic varieties defined by combinatorial data, and there is a wonderful interplay between algebra, combinatorics and geometry involved in their study. Many of the key concepts of abstract algebraic geometry (for example, constructing a variety by gluing affine pieces) have very concrete interpretations in the toric case, making toric varieties an ideal tool for introducing students to abstruse concepts.

The first week will cover basic material, including affine toric varieties, projective toric varieties, normal toric varieties constructed from fans, divisors, and homogeneous coordinates. We will also discuss toric surfaces.The second week will go deeper into the subject, covering topics such as ampleness, vanishing theorems in cohomology, the secondary fan, and geometric invariant theory.

An important feature of the workshop is that it does not assume that students have a full background in algebraic geometry. Students will need to know basic facts about varieties in affine and projective space, but we assume no knowledge of schemes, sheaves, cohomology, etc.

Bibliography (PDF 13KB)