Georgia Institute of Technology School of Mathematics | Georgia Institute of Technology | Atlanta, GA

I will begin with a gentle introduction to hyperrings and hyperfields (originally introduced by Krasner for number-theoretic reasons), and then discuss a far-reaching generalization, Oliver Lorscheid’s theory of ordered blueprints. Two key examples of hyperfields are the hyperfield of signs S and the tropical hyperfield T. An ordering on a field K is the same thing as a homomorphism to S, and a (real) valuation on K is the same thing as a homomorphism to T. In particular, the T-points of an ordered blue scheme over K are closely related to Berkovich’s theory of analytic spaces.I will discuss a common generalization, in this language, of Descartes' Rule of Signs (which involves polynomials over S) and the theory of Newton Polygons (which involves polynomials over T). I will then introduce matroids over hyperfields (as well as certain more general kinds of ordered blueprints). Matroids over S are classically called oriented matroids, and matroids over T are also known as valuated matroids. I will explain how the theory of ordered blueprints and ordered blue schemes allow us to construct a "moduli space of matroids”, which is the analogue in the theory of ordered blue schemes of the usual Grassmannian variety in algebraic geometry. This is joint work with Nathan Bowler and Oliver Lorscheid.

In this talk, we introduce rather exotic algebraic structures called hyperrings and hyperfields. We first review the basic definitions and examples of hyperrings, and illustrate how hyperfields can be employed in algebraic geometry to show that certain topological spaces (underlying topological spaces of schemes, Berkovich analytification of schemes, and real schemes) are homeomorphic to sets of rational points of schemes over hyperfields.

The talk reports on joint work with Wayne Raskind and concerns the conjectural definition of a new type of regulator map into a quotient of an algebraic torus by a discrete subgroup, that should fit in "refined" Beilinson type conjectures, exteding special cases considered by Gross and Mazur-Tate.The construction applies to a smooth complete variety over a p-adic field K which has totally degenerate reduction, a technical term roughly saying that cycles acount for the entire etale cohomology of each component of the special fiber. The regulator is constructed out of the l-adic regulators for all primes l simulateously. I will explain the construction, the special case of the Tate elliptic curve where the regulator on cycles is the identity map, and the case of K_2 of Mumford curves, where the regulator turns out to be a map constructed by Pal. Time permitting I will also say something about the relation with syntomic regulators.

The nerve complex of an open covering is a well-studied notion. Motivated by the so-called Lyubeznik complex in local algebra, and other sources, a notion of higher nerves of a collection of subspaces can be defined. The definition becomes particularly transparent over a simplicial complex. These higher nerves can be used to compute depth, and the h-vector of the original complex, among other things. If time permits, I will discuss new questions arises from these notions in commutative algebra, in particular a recent example of Varbaro on connectivity of hyperplane sections of a variety. This is joint work with J. Doolittle, K. Duna, B. Goeckner, B. Holmes and J. Lyle.