Topology Seminar: Yuri Burda

  • Date: 10/10/2012
  • Time: 15:00
Lecturer(s):
Yuri Burda, UBC
Location: 

University of British Columbia

Topic: 

Topology meets essential dimension

Description: 

The talk will be an extended advertisement of a program to apply topological ideas to computation of essential dimension of groups. The essential dimension of a group G measures to what extent every  generically free action of G on an algebraic variety can be "compressed". For the symmetric group S_n, the essential dimension is directly related to the classical question how much an algebraic equation of degree n can be simplified by a rational change of  variables. I will introduce a topological approach to obtaining lower bounds on essential dimension. I will then survey some (non-topological) advances in theory of essential dimension and discuss some parallels in topology. Finally I will speculate on the possibility to relate results in the theory of topological group actions and results on essential dimension in a way that might benefit both fields.

Other Information: 

Location: ESB 4127