# Mathematical Sciences Research Institute

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1. # Hot Topics: Kadison-Singer, Interlacing Polynomials, and Beyond

Organizers: Sorin Popa (University of California, Los Angeles), LEAD Daniel Spielman (Yale University), Nikhil Srivastava, Cynthia Vinzant (University of Michigan)

Updated on Oct 03, 2014 02:52 PM PDT

1. # Hot Topics: Perfectoid Spaces and their Applications

Organizers: Sophie Morel (Princeton University), Peter Scholze (Universität Bonn), LEAD Richard Taylor (Institute for Advanced Study), Jared Weinstein (Boston University)

Since their introduction just two years ago, perfectoid spaces have played a crucial role in a number of striking advances in arithmetic algebraic geometry: the proof of Deligne's weight-monodromy conjecture for complete intersections in toric varieties; the development of p-adic Hodge theory for rigid analytic spaces;  a p-adic analogue of Riemann's classification of abelian varieties over the complex numbers; and the construction of Galois representations for torsion classes in the cohomology of many locally symmetric spaces (for instance arithmetic hyperbolic 3-manifolds). We will start the week with an exposition of the foundations of the theory of perfectoid spaces, with the aim of teaching novices to work with them. Then we will discuss their current and potential applications.

Updated on Oct 10, 2014 12:49 PM PDT
2. # Hot Topics: Surface subgroups and cube complexes

Organizers: Ian Agol* (University of California, Berkeley), Danny Calegari (University of Chicago), Ursula Hamenstädt (University Bonn), Vlad Markovic (California Institute of Technology)

Recently there has been substantial progress in our understanding of the related questions of which hyperbolic groups are cubulated on the one hand, and which contain a surface subgroup on the other. The most spectacular combination of these two ideas has been in 3-manifold topology, which has seen the resolution of many long-standing conjectures. In turn, the resolution of these conjectures has led to a new point of view in geometric group theory, and the introduction of powerful new tools and structures. The goal of this conference will be to explore the further potential of these new tools and perspectives, and to encourage communication between researchers working in various related fields.

Updated on Jun 06, 2013 05:54 PM PDT
3. # Hot Topics: Thin Groups and Super-strong Approximation

Organizers: Emmanuel Breuillard* (Universite Paris-Sud, Orsay), Alexander Gamburd (CUNY Graduate Center), Jordan Ellenberg (University of Wisconsin - Madison), Emmanuel Kowalski (ETH Zurich), Hee Oh (Brown University)

The workshop will focus on recent developments concerning various quantitative aspects of "thin groups". These are discrete subgroups of semisimple Lie groups which are both « big » (i.e. Zariski dense) and « small » (i.e. of infinite co-volume). This dual nature leads to many intricate questions. Over the past few years, many new ideas and techniques, arising in particular from arithmetic combinatorics, have been involved in the study of such groups, leading for instance to far-reaching generalizations of the strong approximation theorem in which congruence quotients are shown to exhibit a spectral gap (super-strong approximation).

Simultaneously and sometimes surprisingly, the study of thin groups turns out to be of fundamental importance in a variety of subjects, including equidistribution of homogeneous flows and lattice points counting problems, dynamics on Teichmuller space, the Bourgain-Gamburd-Sarnak sieve in orbit, and arithmetic or geometric properties of certain types of monodromy groups and coverings. The workshop will gather a variety of experts from group theory, number theory, ergodic theory and harmonic analysis to present the accomplishments to date to a broad audience and discuss directions for further study.

Updated on Jun 07, 2013 02:00 PM PDT
4. # Hot Topics: Kervaire invariant

Organizers: Mike Hill (University of Virginia), Michael Hopkins (Harvard University), and Douglas C. Ravanel* (University of Rochester)

This workshop will focus on the ideas surrounding the recent solution to the Arf-Kervaire invariant problem in stable homotopy theory by Mike Hill, Mike Hopkins and Doug Ravenel. There will be talks on relevant aspects of equivariant stable homotopy theory, including the norm functor and the slice tower. The pertinent parts of chromatic homotopy theory will be covered including formal groups and formal $A$-modules, the Hopkins-Miller theorem, finite subgroups of Morava stabilizer groups and Ravenel's 1978 solution to the analogous problem at primes bigger than 3. There will also be several talks by the organizers giving a detailed account of the proof of the main theorem. Finally there will be a discussion of the questions raised by the unexpected statement of the theorem.

Updated on Jun 07, 2013 02:59 PM PDT
5. # Hot Topics: Black Holes in Relativity

Organizers: Mihalis Dafermos (University of Cambridge) and Igor Rodnianski* (Princeton)

The mathematical study of the dynamics of the Einstein equations forms a central part of both partial differential equations and geometry, and is intimately related to our current physical understanding of gravitational collapse.

Updated on Jun 07, 2013 02:51 PM PDT
6. # Hot Topics: Contact structures, dynamics and the Seiberg-Witten equations in dimension 3

Organizers: Helmut Hofer, Michael Hutchings, Peter Kronheimer, Tom Mrowka and Cliff Taubes

This workshop will concentrate on recently discovered relationships between Seiberg-Witten theory and contact geometry on 3 dimensional manifolds. One consequence of these relationships is a proof of the Weinstein conjecture in dimension 3. Another is an isomorphism between the Seiberg-Witten Floer (co)homology and embedded contact homology, the latter a form of Floer homology that was defined by Michael Hutchings. The over arching plan is to introduce the salient features of both the contact geometry side of the story and the Seiberg-Witten side, and then discuss how they are related.

Updated on Jun 07, 2013 02:35 PM PDT
7. # Hot Topics: Minimal and Canonical Models in Algebraic Geometry

Organizers: Alessio Corti, Jean-Pierre Demailly, János Kollár, Shigefumi Mori

Updated on Jun 07, 2013 02:31 PM PDT
8. # CMI/MSRI Hot Topics Workshop: Modularity for GL(2) and Beyond

Organizers: Michael Harris, Mark Kisin, Kenneth Ribet, Richard Taylor, David Ellwood

This workshop is jointly funded by MSRI and the Clay Mathematics Institute.

Updated on Jun 07, 2013 02:45 PM PDT
9. # HOT TOPICS: Mathematical and Statistical Methods for Visualization and Analysis of High Dimensional Data

Organizers: Gunnar Carlsson, Susan Holmes, Persi Diaconis

Updated on Jun 07, 2013 02:29 PM PDT
10. # Hot Topics Workshop: The Modularity of Elliptic Curves, and Beyond

Organizers: Brian Conrad, Jean-Marc Fontaine, Barry Mazur, Ken Ribet (chair), Richard Taylor

Updated on Jun 07, 2013 12:07 PM PDT