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Stallings foldings

Student-Run Geometry/Topology Seminar

Speaker: Lucas Sabalka, UC Davis
Location: 1147 MSB
Start time: Tue, Nov 4 2008, 1:10PM

In 1983, Stallings introduced a surprisingly simple method of combinatorially studying subgroups of free groups, using graphs and the theory of covering spaces. The method yields simple proofs for many classical results and is the basis for much modern work. We will describe Stallings foldings and some of their consequences.