Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

We explain the (classical) transverse Markov Theorem which relates transverse links in the tight three sphere to classical braid closures. We review an invariant of such transverse links coming from knot Floer homology and discuss some applications which appear in the literature.

Many problems in algebraic geometry involve counting solutions to geometric problems. The number of intersection points of two projective planar curves and the number of lines on a cubic surface are two classical problems in this enumerative geometry. Using A1-homotopy theory, one can gain new insights to old enumerative problems. We will outline some results in A1-enumerative geometry, including the speaker’s current work on Bézout’s Theorem.

Let K be a link braided about an open book (B,p) supporting a contact manifold (Y,x). K and B are naturally transverse links. We prove that the hat version of the transverse link invariant defined by Baldwin, Vela-Vick and Vertesi is non-zero for the union of K with B. As an application, we prove that the transverse invariant of any braid having fractional Dehn twist coefficient greater than one is non-zero. This generalizes a theorem of Plamenevskaya for classical braid closures.

I will explain some connections between the counting of incompressible surfaces in hyperbolic 3-manifolds with boundary and the 3Dindex of Dimofte-Gaiotto-Gukov. Joint work with N. Dunfield, C. Hodgson and H. Rubinstein, and, as usual, with lots of examples and patterns.

After briefly describing my research interests, I’ll speak on two results that involve points moving around on surfaces. The first result shows how to “hear the shape of a billiard table.” A point bouncing around a polygon encodes a sequence of edges. We show how to recover geometric information about the table from the collection of all such bounce sequences. This is joint work with Calderon, Coles, Davis, and Oliveira.

The Oka-Grauert principle is one of the first examples of an h-principle. It states that for a Stein domain X and a complex Lie group G, the topological and holomorphic classifications of principal G-bundles over X agree. In particular, a complex vector bundle over X has a holomorphic trivialization if and only if it has a continuous trivialization. In these talks, we will discuss the complex geometry of Stein domains, including various characterizations of Stein domains, the classical Theorems A and B, and the Oka-Grauert principle.

In 1957, Smale proved a striking result: we can turn a sphere inside out without any singularity. Gromov in his thesis, proved a generalized version of this theorem, which had been the starting point of the h-principle. In this talk, we will prove Gromov's theorem and see applications of it.