## Seminars and Colloquia by Series

### Distances in the homology curve complex

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 - 13:05 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Ingrid IrmerU Bonn
In this talk a curve complex HC(S) closely related to the "Cyclic Cycle Complex" (Bestvina-Bux-Margalit) and the "Complex of Cycles" (Hatcher) is defined for an orientable surface of genus g at least 2. The main result is a simple algorithm for calculating distances and constructing quasi-geodesics in HC(S). Distances between two vertices in HC(S) are related to the "Seifert genus" of the corresponding link in S x R, and behave quite differently from distances in other curve complexes with regards to subsurface projections.

### Action of the cork twist on Floer homology

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 - 10:30 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Cagri KarakurtUT Austin
Abstract: We utilize the Ozsvath-Szabo contact invariant to detect the action of involutions on certain homology spheres that are surgeries on symmetric links, generalizing a previous result of Akbulut and Durusoy. Potentially this may be useful to detect different smooth structures on $4$-manifolds by cork twisting operation. This is a joint work with S. Akbulut.

### On the Huynh-Le Quantum Determinant and the Head and Tail of the Colored Jones Polynomial

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Friday, April 22, 2011 - 14:05 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 269
Speaker
C. ArmondLouisiana State University
In this talk I will describe how the quantum determinant modelof the Colored Jones polynomial, developed by Vu Huynh and Thang Le can beinterpreted in a combinatorial way as walks along a braid. Thisinterpretation can then be used to prove that the leading coefficients ofthe colored Jones polynomial stabalize, defining two power series calledthe head and the tail. I will also show examples where the head and tailcan be calculated explicitly and have applications in number theory.

### A combinatorial spanning tree model for delta-graded knot Floer homology

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, April 18, 2011 - 14:20 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
John BaldwinPrinceton
I'll describe a new combinatorial method for computing the delta-graded knot Floer homology of a link in S^3. Our construction comes from iterating an unoriented skein exact triangle discovered by Manolescu, and yields a chain complex for knot Floer homology which is reminiscent of that of Khovanov homology, but is generated (roughly) by spanning trees of the black graph of the link. This is joint work with Adam Levine.

### Oral Comprehensive Exam

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, April 18, 2011 - 13:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Becca WinarskiGeorgia Tech

Please Note: The actual talk will be 40 minutes. Note the unusual time.

The theorem of Birman and Hilden relates the mapping class group of a surface and its image under a covering map. I'll explore when we can extend the original theorem and possible applications for further work.

### Generalized Kashaev and Turaev-Viro 3-manifold invariants

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, April 11, 2011 - 14:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Nathan GeerUtah State University
I will consider two constructions which lead to information about the topology of a 3-manifold from one of its triangulation. The first construction is a modification of the Turaev-Viro invariant based on re-normalized 6j-symbols. These re-normalized 6j-symbols satisfy tetrahedral symmetries. The second construction is a generalization of Kashaev's invariant defined in his foundational paper where he first stated the volume conjecture. This generalization is based on symmetrizing 6j-symbols using *charges* developed by W. Neumann, S. Baseilhac, and R. Benedetti. In this talk, I will focus on the example of nilpotent representations of quantized sl(2) at a root of unity. In this example, the two constructions are equal and give rise to a kind of Homotopy Quantum Field Theory. This is joint work with R. Kashaev, B. Patureau and V. Turaev.

### The Degree Conjecture for torus knots

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, April 4, 2011 - 14:05 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Thao VuongGeorgia Tech
I will talk about some progress in proving the Degree Conjecture for torus knots. The conjecture states that the degree of a colored Jones polynomial colored by an irreducible representation of a simple Lie algebra g is locally a quadratic quasi-polynomial. This is joint work with Stavros Garoufalidis.

### Holiday - No Seminar Today

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, March 21, 2011 - 09:31 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
None
Speaker
NoneNone

### Skewloops, quadrics, and curvature

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Monday, March 14, 2011 - 14:05 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 006
Speaker
Bruce SolomonIndiana University
A smooth loop in 3-space is skew if it has no pair of parallel tangent lines. With M.~Ghomi, we proved some years ago that among surfaces with some positive Gauss curvature (i.e., local convexity) the absence of skewloops characterizes quadrics. The relationship between skewloops and negatively curved surfaces has proven harder to analyze, however. We report some recent progress on that problem, including evidence both for and against the possibility that the absence of skewloops characterizes quadricsamong surfaces with negative curvature.

### Contact geometry and Heegaard Floer invariants for noncompact 3-manifolds

Series
Geometry Topology Seminar
Time
Friday, March 11, 2011 - 14:00 for 1 hour (actually 50 minutes)
Location
Skiles 269
Speaker
Shea Vela-VickColumbia University
I plan to discuss a method for defining Heegaard Floer invariants for 3-manifolds. The construction is inspired by contact geometry and has several interesting immediate applications to the study of tight contact structures on noncompact 3-manifolds. In this talk, I'll focus on one basic examples and indicate how one defines a contact invariant which can be used to give an alternate proof of James Tripp's classification of tight, minimally twisting contact structures on the open solid torus. This is joint work with John B. Etnyre and Rumen Zarev.