Gregory Smith (Queen's)
Vanishing theorems and equations of embedded varieties
Understanding the relationship between the algebraic equations that cut out a variety Y in X and the geometric features of the embedded variety Y lies at the heart of algebraic geometry. In this talk, we will discuss the key theorems when the ambient variety X is projective space. We'll then motivate and present new results designed for other ambient varieties.

Vincent Bouchard (Alberta)
The geometry of mirror curves
According to the "remodeling conjecture", the generating functions of Gromov-Witten invariants of toric Calabi-Yau threefolds are fully determined in terms of a topological recursion. At the origin of the recursion is the geometry of the corresponding mirror curves, obtained through the Hori-Vafa mirror symmetry recipe. In this talk I will describe the geometry of mirror curves and the remodeling conjecture. In particular, I will explain how the "pair of pants" decomposition of mirror curves plays an important role in the topological recursion, in mirror analogy to the topological vertex formalism on the Gromov-Witten side. This is joint work with Piotr Sulkowski.

Shrawan Kumar (UNC)
Geometry of orbits of permanents and determinants
Abstract