A tale of two compactifications - Michael Thaddeus

Date: Thursday 4th April 2013
Speaker: Michael Thaddeus (Columbia)
Title: A tale of two compactifications

Abstract: We will examine two compactifications of reductive groups with very attractive properties, namely the wonderful compactification of PGL(n,C) and the Kausz compactification of GL(n,C). We will explore their connections to each other and to moduli problems in several corners of mathematics: spaces of broken flows in Morse theory, spaces of stable maps to Grassmannians, and spaces of coherent sheaves on singular Riemann surfaces. Then we will see how parts of this circle of ideas have been generalized, in joint work with Johan Martens, to arbitrary reductive groups.

http://www.maths.ed.ac.uk/cheltsov/seminar/