## Seminars and Colloquia by Series

### Thurston equivalence is decidable

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Thursday, October 26, 2017 - 11:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Nikita SelingerUniversity of Alabama-Birmingham
In a joint work with M. Yampolsky, we gave a classification of Thurston maps with parabolic orbifolds based on our previous results on characterization of canonical Thurston obstructions. The obtained results yield a solution to the problem of algorithmically checking combinatorial equivalence of two Thurston maps.

### The immersed cross-cap number of a knot

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, October 23, 2017 - 13:55 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Mark HughesBYU
The immersed Seifert genus of a knot $K$ in $S^3$ can be defined as the minimal genus of an orientable immersed surface $F$ with $\partial F = K$. By a result of Gabai, this value is always equal to the (embedded) Seifert genus of $K$. In this talk I will discuss the embedded and immersed cross-cap numbers of a knot, which are the non-orientable versions of these invariants. Unlike their orientable counterparts these values do not always coincide, and can in fact differ by an arbitrarily large amount. In further contrast to the orientable case, there are families of knots with arbitrarily high embedded 4-ball cross-cap numbers, but which are easily seen to have immersed cross-cap number 1. After describing these examples I will discuss a classification of knots with immersed cross-cap number 1. This is joint work with Seungwon Kim.

### Complex curves through a contact lens

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, October 16, 2017 - 13:55 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Kyle HaydenBoston College
Every four-dimensional Stein domain has a Morse function whoseregular level sets are contact three-manifolds. This allows us to studycomplex curves in the Stein domain via their intersection with thesecontact level sets, where we can comfortably apply three-dimensional tools.We use this perspective to understand links in Stein-fillable contactmanifolds that bound complex curves in their Stein fillings.

### No seminar -- Fall Break

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, October 9, 2017 - 13:55 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
NoneNone

### Joint GT-UGA Seminar at GT - Fibered, homotopy-ribbon disk-knots by Jeff Meier

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, October 2, 2017 - 15:30 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Jeff MeierUGA
I'll introduce you to one of my favorite knotted objects: fibered, homotopy-ribbon disk-knots. After giving a thorough overview of these objects, I'll discuss joint work with Kyle Larson that brings some new techniques to bear on their study. Then, I'll present new work with Alex Zupan that introduces connections with Dehn surgery and trisections. I'll finish by presenting a classification result for fibered, homotopy-ribbon disk-knots bounded by square knots.

### Joint GT-UGA Seminar at GT - Homology Cobordism of Seifert Spaces

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, October 2, 2017 - 13:55 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Matt StoffregenMIT
We use Manolescu's Pin(2)-equivariant Floer homology to study homology cobordisms among Seifert spaces. In particular, we will show that the subgroup of the homology cobordism group generated by Seifert spaces admits a \mathbb{Z}^\infty summand. This is joint work with Irving Dai.

### On boundaries of relatively hyperbolic right-angled Coxeter groups

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, September 25, 2017 - 15:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 005
Speaker
Hung TranGeorgia
We give "visual descriptions" of cut points and non-parabolic cut pairs in the Bowditch boundary of a relatively hyperbolic right-angled Coxeter group. We also prove necessary and sufficient conditions for a relatively hyperbolic right-angled Coxeter group whose defining graph has a planar flag complex with minimal peripheral structure to have the Sierpinski carpet or the 2-sphere as its Bowditch boundary. We apply these results to the problem of quasi-isometry classification of right-angled Coxeter groups. Additionally, we study right-angled Coxeter groups with isolated flats whose $\CAT(0)$ boundaries are Menger curve. This is a joint work with Matthew Haulmark and Hoang Thanh Nguyen.

### Taut branched surfaces from veering triangulations

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, September 18, 2017 - 13:55 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Michael LandryYale
Let M be a closed hyperbolic 3-manifold with a fibered face \sigma of the unit ball of the Thurston norm on H_2(M). If M satisfies a certain condition related to Agol’s veering triangulations, we construct a taut branched surface in M spanning \sigma. This partially answers a 1986 question of Oertel, and extends an earlier partial answer due to Mosher. I will not assume knowledge of the Thurston norm, branched surfaces, or veering triangulations.

### Joint GT-UGA Seminar at UGA by Jeremy Van Horn-Morris and Laura Starkston

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, September 11, 2017 - 14:30 for 2.5 hours
Location
UGA Room 304
Speaker
Jeremy Van Horn-Morris and Laura StarkstonTBA

### No Seminar - Labor Day

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, September 4, 2017 - 14:15 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
NoneNone