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The symplectic isotopy problem and Lagrangian skeleta

Special Events

Speaker: Dr. Laura Starkston, Stanford
Location: 1147 MSB
Start time: Tue, Jan 23 2018, 4:10PM

Symplectic manifolds decompose into a symplectic divisor and an exact Weinstein manifold. We will discuss both sides of this essential decomposition. On the divisor side, we will focus on symplectic surfaces in 4-manifolds, particularly the longstanding symplectic isotopy problem. We will leverage singularities and study symplectic versions of line arrangements and rational cuspidal curves. On the Weinstein side, we will see how to encode the symplectic geometry of a 2n-dimensional manifold using the topology of an n-dimensional singular complex: the Lagrangian skeleton.