Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences

I will talk about homomorphisms between surface braid groups. Firstly, we will see that any surjective homomorphism from PB_n(S) to PB_m(S) factors through a forgetful map. Secondly, we will compute the automorphism group of PB_n(S). It turns out to be the mapping class group when n>1.

We give a simple geometric criterion for an element to normally generate the mapping class group of a surface. As an application of this criterion, we show that when a surface has genus at least 3, every periodic mapping class except for the hyperelliptic involution normally generates. We also give examples of pseudo-Anosov elements that normally generate when genus is at least 2, answering a question of D. Long.

Alexandru Oancea: Title: Symplectic homology for cobordisms Abstract: Symplectic homology for a Liouville cobordism - possibly filled at the negative end - generalizes simultaneously the symplectic homology of Liouville domains and the Rabinowitz-Floer homology of their boundaries. I will explain its definition, some of its properties, and give a sample application which shows how it can be used in order to obstruct cobordisms between contact manifolds. Based on joint work with Kai Cieliebak and Peter Albers. Basak Gürel: Title: From Lusternik-Schnirelmann theory to Conley conjecture Abstract: In this talk I will discuss a recent result showing that whenever a closed symplectic manifold admits a Hamiltonian diffeomorphism with finitely many simple periodic orbits, the manifold has a spherical homology class of degree two with positive symplectic area and positive integral of the first Chern class. This theorem encompasses all known cases of the Conley conjecture (symplectic CY and negative monotone manifolds) and also some new ones (e.g., weakly exact symplectic manifolds with non-vanishing first Chern class). The proof hinges on a general Lusternik–Schnirelmann type result that, under some natural additional conditions, the sequence of mean spectral invariants for the iterations of a Hamiltonian diffeomorphism never stabilizes. Based on joint work with Viktor Ginzburg.