Department Seminars and Colloquia

Hurwitz spaces and string topology

Departmental Seminar

Craig Westerland

Institution: The University of Melbourne
Date: Mon 14th January 2008
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: Room 213, Richard Berry Building, The University of Melb

Abstract: String topology, originating in the work of Chas and Sullivan in the late 90's, concerns itself with the algebraic and topological properties of loop spaces of manifolds. Many interesting connections to representation theory and symplectic geometry have recently been established. Hurwitz spaces are moduli spaces of branched covers of Riemann surfaces. In this talk we will propose a generalization of this notion that serves as a bridge between the two subjects, and allows for the construction of operations in string topology governed by the moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces. Using this construction, we prove a vanishing theorem for the string topology of classifying spaces.

For More Information: Professor Peter Taylor p.taylor@ms.unimelb.edu.au