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Recent Developments in Topological String Theory and Virasoro Constraints

Mathematical Physics Seminar

Speaker: Motohico Mulase, UCD
Location: 2112 MSB
Start time: Thu, May 8 2008, 11:00AM

The Witten-Kontsevich theory tells us that the intersection numbers of cotangent classes on the moduli spaces of Riemann surfaces satisfy both Virasoro constraint conditions and the KdV equations. Several generalizations of this celebrated theorem have been discovered recently, establishing a deeper understanding of where the Virasoro conditions and the integrable equations such as KP and KdV are originated. In this talk I will sketch recent developments on the subject, focusing on the geometric structure in topological string theory that leads to the Virasoro conditions.