Johns Hopkins Number Theory/Algebraic Geometry Seminar
All talks are 4:30-5:30 unless noted.
Sept. 15
TBA

Sept. 22
Gerald Gotsbacher, U. of Toronto
Eisenstein cohomology for odd orthogonal groups

Sept. 29
none

Oct. 6
Paul Pollack, U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Prime Polynomials

Oct. 13
Xiang Tang, Washington University of St. Louis
Characteristic classes for trivialized flat U_n bundle

Oct. 20
none

Oct. 27
none

Nov. 3
Brooke Feigon, U. of Toronto
Exact averages of central values of triple product L-functions

Nov. 10
none

Nov. 17
Sung Rak Choi, U.C. Riverside
Geography of log models and its applications

Nov. 24
Mr. Turkey

Dec. 1
TBA

Dec. 8
TBA

2010

Feb. 2
Gregory Pearlstein, Michigan State
TBA

Mar. 2
Eyal Goren, McGill
TBA
Abstracts

Gotsbacher (9/23), Eisenstein cohomology for odd orthogonal groups: At the beginning, I shall briefly introduce some notions from cohomology of arithmetic groups and indicate the role played by Eisenstein series in this context. Thereafter, I will focus on the case of split odd orthogonal groups. For these the part of the Eisenstein cohomology corresponding to maximal parabolic subgroups can be described quite explicitly, if under the assumption that the cohomological representations of their Levi subgroups be generic. I shall explain this description (obtained in joint work with H. Grobner) and how it builds on representation theory and the theory of automorphic L-functions of general linear and odd orthogonal groups.

Tang (10/13), Characteristic classes for trivialized flat U_n bundle: In this talk we will describe a way to define characteristic classes for trivialized flat U_n bundle using Hopf-cyclic theory. These classes can be used to define functionals on the K-theory of certain C*-algebras. This, in turn, allows one to define a set of characteristic numbers, generalizing the relative eta invariant, which are homotopy invariant. Such an approach can be applied to study the unitary K-theory of the complex numbers. This is a joint work with Jerry Kaminker.

Feigon (11/3), Exact averages of central values of triple product L-functions: In this talk, I will discuss exact formulas for averages of central L-values obtained using the relative trace formula and relations between periods and L-functions. I will focus on an example involving triple product L-functions. This is joint work with David Whitehouse.

Choi (11/17), Geography of log models and its applications: In this talk, I will introduce the theory of geography of log models and its applications mainly to the geometry of minimal models and Mori fibrations. This is joint work with V.V Shokurov.