Integration of differential forms against cycles on a complex manifold helps relate de Rham cohomology to singular cohomology, which forms the beginning of Hodge theory. The analogous story for p-adic manifolds, which is the subject of p-adic Hodge theory, is richer due to a wider variety of available cohomology theories (de Rham, etale, crystalline, and more) and torsion phenomena. In this talk, I will give a bird's eye view of this picture, guided by the recently discovered notion of prismatic cohomology that provides some cohesion to the story. (Based on joint work with Morrow and Scholze as well as work in progress with Scholze.)

In the Langlands program, it is essential to understand spaces of Schwartz measures on quotient stacks like the (twisted) adjoint quotient of a reductive group. The generalization of this problem to spherical varieties calls for an understanding of the double quotient H\G/H, where H is a spherical subgroup of G. This has been studied by Richardson for symmetric spaces. In this talk, I will present a new approach, for spherical varieties "of rank one", based on Friedrich Knop's theory of the moment map and the invariant collective motion.

Period map is a powerful tool to study geometric objects related to K3 surfaces and cubic 4-folds. In this talk, we focus on moduli of cubic 4-folds and sextic curves with specified symmetries and singularities. We identify the geometric (GIT) compactifications with the Hodge theoretic (Looijenga, mostly Baily-Borel) compactifications of locally symmetric varieties. As a corollary, the algebra of GIT invariants is identified with the algebra of automorphic forms on the corresponding period domains. One of the key inputs is the functorial property of semi-toric compactifications of locally symmetric varieties. Our work generalizes results of Matsumoto-Sasaki-Yoshida, Allcock-Carlson-Toledo, Looijenga-Swierstra and Laza-Pearlstein-Zhang. This is joint work with Zhiwei Zheng.

Mumford-Tate groups arise as the natural symmetry groups of Hodge structures and their variations. I describe recent work with Matt Kerr on computing the Mumford-Tate group of the Kato-Usui boundary components of a degeneration of Hodge structure.

It has been 30 years since Koll\Â?ar and Shepherd-Barron published their groundbreaking paper describing a compactification of GiesekerÂ?s moduli space of surfaces of general type. As with all compactifications, the work raised natural questions. What is the structure of these moduli spaces and the boundary in particular? What sorts of singularities might we expect to obtain? What types of surfaces give rise to divisors in the moduli space, and are these divisors smooth? We discuss general results bounding types of Wahl singularities, and use them to address these questions in the context of Horikawa-type surfaces.

This talk is about complex analytic geometry, the field of mathematics concerned with complex manifolds and more generally with complex analytic spaces. The "curves" of the title are compact Riemann surfaces and the "surfaces" in the title are compact complex manifolds of dimension 2 over the complex numbers (and hence dimension 4 over the real numbers). The talk will explore the problem of constructing two dimensional complex manifolds by deforming known complex analytic spaces. It will focus on a single example. The talk should be quasi-accessible to anyone who has courses in Riemann surfaces and algebraic topology.

If X is a Grassmannian (or an arbitrary homogeneous space) the 3-point, genus 0, Gromov-Witten invariants count rational curves of degree d satisfying certain incidence conditions - if this number is expected to be finite. If the number is infinite, Givental and Lee defined the K-theoretic Gromov-Witten invariants, which compute the sheaf Euler characteristic of the space of rational curves in question, embedded in Kontsevich's moduli space of stable maps. The resulting quantum cohomology theory - the quantum K-theory algebra - encodes the associativity relations satisfied by the K-theoretic Gromov-Witten invariants. In joint work with Anders Buch, we shown that the (equivariant) K-theoretic Gromov-Witten invariants for Grassmannians are equal to structure constants of the ordinary (equivariant) K-theory of certain two-step flag manifolds. We therefore extended - and also reproved - the "quantum=classical" phenomenon earlier discovered by Buch-Kresch-Tamvakis in the case of the usual Gromov-Witten invariants. Further, we obtained a Pieri and a Giambelli rule, which yield an effective algorithm to multiply any two classes in the quantum K algebra.

Hodge structures on cohomology groups are fundamental invariants of algebraic varieties; they are parametrized by quotients $D/\Gamma$ of period domains by arithmetic groups. Except for a few very special cases, such quotients are never algebraic varieties, and this leads to many difficulties in the general theory. We explain how to partially remedy this situation by equipping $D/\Gamma$ with an o-minimal structure in which any period map is definable. The algebraicity of Hodge loci is an immediate consequence via a theorem of Peterzil--Starchenko. We further prove a general GAGA type theorem in the definable category, and deduce some finer algebraization results. This is joint work with Y. Brunebarbe, B. Klingler, and J.Tsimerman.

For the general linear group, the Bruhat-Tits building can be realized explicitly in terms of periodic lattice chains in the standard representation. Further, each parahoric group scheme can be described as an automorphism group of a particular chain. I will explain a Tannakian formalism which establishes analogous descriptions for arbitrary connected reductive groups over complete discretely valued fields. This complements previously known results for classical groups, and fits in with Mumford's Geometric Invariant Theory, where spherical buildings are similarly described. This is joint work with Kevin Wilson.

Abstract: Given a Hida family of modular forms, a conjecture of Greenberg predicts that L-functions of forms in the family should generically vanish to order 0 or 1 at the center of the functional equation. Similarly the Selmer groups of forms in the family should generically be of rank 0 or 1. In this talk I will prove a generalization of the Gross-Zagier theorem, relating Neron-Tate heights of special points on the modular Jacobian J_1(N) to derivatives of L-functions, and explain how this generalization can be used to verify Greenberg's conjecture for any particular Hida family.

Class groups of cyclotomic fields have long been of central interest in number theory. We consider elements of these class groups that arise as values of a cup product pairing on cyclotomic units. These pairing values yield information on a wealth of algebraic objects, but any analytic interpretation of them was heretofore unknown. We will describe how, conjecturally, modular representations can be used to relate the pairing values to p-adic L-values of cusp forms.

Orlov has recently proven a remarkable equivalence between the derived category of coherent sheaves on a Calabi-Yau variety and a particular category of matrix factorizations. I review this work and explain why it's so interesting to string theorists.

Abstract: In the sixties, Serre constructed a smooth projective variety in characteristic p that cannot be lifted to characteristic 0. If a variety does not lift, a natural question is whether some variety related to it does. We construct a smooth projective variety that cannot be rationally dominated by a smooth projective variety that lifts.

        I will report on joint work M.A. Barja (UPC, Barcelona) and L. Stoppino (Universita' dell'Insubria, Como - Italy).
        Given a generically finite map a:X--> A, where X is a smooth projective variety and A is an abelian variety, and given a line bundle L on X, we study the linear system |L+P|, where P is a general element of Pic^0(A). We prove that up to taking base change with a suitable multiplication map A-->A, the map given by |L+P| is independent of P and induces a factorization of the map a. When L is the canonical bundle of X, this factorization is a new geometrical object intrinsically attached to the variety X.
        The factorization theorem also allows us to improve the known Clifford-Severi and Castelnuovo type numerical inequalities for line bundles on X, under certain assumptions on the map a:X-->A. A key tool in these proofs is the introduction of a real function, the continuous rank function, that also allows us to simplify considerably the proof of the general Clifford-Severi inequality.

We discuss compact complex manifolds which ``look like'' complex projective spaces or complex tori. Hirzebruch and Kodaira proved in 1957 that when n is odd, any compact Kähler manifold X which is homeomorphic to Pⁿ is isomorphic to Pⁿ. This holds for all n by Aubin and Yau's proofs of the Calabi conjecture. One may conjecture that it should be sufficient to assume that the integral cohomology rings H^*(X,Z) and H^*(Pⁿ,Z) are isomorphic.

Catanese observed that complex tori are characterized among compact Kähler manifolds X by the fact that their integral cohomology rings are exterior algebras on H¹(X,Z) and asked whether this remains true under the weaker assumption that the rational cohomology ring is an exterior algebra on H¹(X,Q). (We call the corresponding compact Kähler manifolds ``rational cohomology tori".) We give a negative answer to Catanese's question by producing explicit examples. We also prove some structure theorems for rational cohomology tori. This is work in collaboration with Z. Jiang, M. Lahoz, and W. F. Sawin.

In the first part of this talk, we consider, in the context of an arbitrary hyperplane arrangement, the map between compactly supported cohomology to the usual cohomology of a local system. A formula (i.e., an explicit algebraic de Rham representative) for a generalized version of this map is obtained. These results are applied in the second part to invariant theory: Schechtman and Varchenko connect invariant theoretic objects to the cohomology of local systems on complements of hyperplane arrangements: To determine the image of invariants in cohomology. In suitable cases (e.g., corresponding to positive integral levels), the space of invariants is shown to acquire a mixed Hodge structure over a cyclotomic field. This is joint work with P. Brosnan and S. Mukhopadhyay.

The usefulness of the various Riemann-Roch formulas as computational tools is well documented in literature. Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch is a commutative diagram relating pullback in K-theory to the pullback of associated Chow invariants for locally complete intersection (l.c.i.) morphisms. We extend this notion to quasi-smooth morphisms between derived schemes, this is the "derived" analog of l.c.i. morphisms and it encompasses relative perfect obstruction theories. We will concentrate on the naturality of the construction from the standpoint of pure intersection theory and how it interacts with the virtual Gysin homomorphism defined by Behrend-Fantechi. Time permitting we will discuss the relationship with existing formulas, i.e., Ciocan-Fonanine, Kapranov, Fantechi, and Goettsche.

Abstract: Science, and perhaps all learning, is the problem of inferring causal relationships from observations. It turns out that algebraic geometry can provide powerful intuition and methods applicable to causal inference. The relevant theory of graphical causal models is a major entry point to the budding field of algebraic statistics, where algebraic geometry meets statistical modeling, and this talk will give an introduction to it from the perspective of an algebraic geometer. I'll introduce some conceptual tools and methods that are peculiar to algebraic statistics, and work through an example such causal inference computation using the commutative algebra software Macaulay2. At the end I'll review some of my research on hidden Markov models and varieties, and their close connection to matrix product state models of quantum-entangled qubits.

I will explain some attempts to develop a theory of Schubert calculus on the affine Grassmannian. I will begin with the different descriptions of the (co)homology rings due to Bott, Kostant and Kumar, and Ginzburg. Then I will discuss the problems of finding polynomial representatives for Schubert classes and the explicit determination of structure constants in (co)homology.

The Hilbert scheme of n points on C^2 is a smooth manifold of dimension 2n. The topology and geometry of Hilbert schemes have important connections to physics, representation theory, and combinatorics. Hilbert schemes of points on C^2/G, for G a finite group, are also smooth, and their topology is encoded in the combinatorics of partitions. When G is a subgroup of SL_2, the topology and combinatorics of the situation are well understood, but much less is known for general G. After outlining the well-understood situation, I will discuss some conjectures in the general case, and a combinatorial proof that their homology stabilizes.

It follows from results in Teichmüller Theory that generic curves of type (g,n) in characteristic zero have only n rational points that come from the tautological points. Richard Hain gave an algebraic proof of the theorem. Extending his algebraic method to positive characteristics, we prove the analogous result for generic curves in positive characteristics. The primary tool used is the theory of weighted completion, which was developed by Richard Hain and Makoto Matsumoto. It linearises a profinite group such as arithmetic mapping class groups. In our case, the weighted completion connects topology and algebraic geometry in positive characteristics.

For a reductive algebraic group G with Lie algebra g and involution \theta we define relative orbital integrals with respect to G acting on the -1 eigenspace of \theta on g. We prove some fundamental lemmas relating these orbital integrals to relative orbital integrals on smaller groups, providing the first example of a theory of relative endoscopy in our setting

We give a new proof of Bogomolov's instability theorem. Furthermore we prove that it is equivalent to a statement which characterizes when the first cohomology group of a big divisor does not vanish.

Tropical geometry is a combinatorial shadow of algebraic geometry over a nonarchimedean field that encodes information about things like intersections and enumerative invariants. Usually one defines tropical varieties as certain polyhedral subsets of R^n satisfying a balancing condition. I'll show how these arise as the solution sets to certain systems of polynomial equations over the tropical semiring T = (R union -infinity, max, +) related to matroids. This yields a notion of tropical Hilbert polynomials, and in this framework there is a universal tropicalization that is closely related to the Berkovich analytification and the moduli space of valuations.

We encode arbitrary finite impartial combinatorial games in terms of lattice points in rational convex polyhedra. Encodings provided by these lattice games can be made particularly efficient for octal games, which we generalize to squarefree games. These encompass all heap games in a natural setting where the Sprague-Grundy theorem for normal play manifests itself geometrically. We provide polynomial-time algorithms for computing strategies for lattice games provided that they have a certain algebraic structure, called an affine stratification.

The cohomology rings of flag varieties have long been known to exhibit positivity properties. One such property is that the structure constants of the Schubert basis with respect to the cup product are non-negative. Brion (2002) and Anderson-Griffeth-Miller (2011) have shown that positivity extends to K-theory and T-equivariant K-theory, respectively. In this talk I will discuss recent work (joint with Shrawan Kumar) which generalizes these results to the case of Kac-Moody groups.

An old theorem of Gabriel says that a variety X can be reconstructed by the category Coh(X) of coherent sheaves on it. This result has seen a few generalizations over the years. I will present a different and more geometric proof, with new generalizations. The idea being that X can be recovered as a moduli space of "points" in Coh(X). This is joint work with Michael Groechenig.

The boundary complex of an algebraic variety is the dual complex of the boundary divisor in a compactification of a log resolution. I will present recent work showing that the homotopy type of this complex is independent of the choice of resolution and compactification, and give relations between these complexes and Deligne's weight filtration on singular cohomology.