electronic Computational Homotopy TheoryThe electronic Computational Homotopy Theory research community organizes occasional minicourses on topics of current interest.
Contact Dan Isaksen (Wayne State University), Guchuan Li (Peking University), or Sarah Petersen (University of Colorado) for additional information.
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See below for the schedule of previous minicourses, in reverse chronological order.
Speaker: Julie Bergner, University of Virginia
Title: to be announced
Schedule: 11:30am eastern time on May 14, 16, 21, and 23, 2024
Schedule: 12:00 PM Eastern on December 5, 7, 12, and 14th, 2023
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Meeting ID: 923 3183 2164
Passcode: eCHT
Speaker: Doug Ravenel, University of Rochester
Title: The background and motivation for the telescope conjecture.
Abstract: The course will give the mathematical background of the recently settled (by Burklund, Hahn, Levy, and Schlank) telescope conjecture in stable homotopy theory. A “trailer” for the course will be the 30-minute introduction I plan to give in a special edition of the Princeton algebraic topology seminar on October 28. There will be some overlap with the eCHT course on chromatic homotopy theory given by Agnès Beaudry in May 2019. I will discuss Morava K-theory, Bousfield localization, the Hopkins-Smith periodicity theorem, formal group laws, the Morava stabilizer group and the chromatic filtration.
Lectures: 11:30 am ET on 10 May, 12 May, 17 May, 19 May 2022
4-hour online mini-course, offered on consecutive Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30am in Detroit (Eastern Time).
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Speaker: Bert Guillou, University of Kentucky
Title: The equivariant slice spectral sequence
Abstract: The slice filtration has become a powerful tool in equivariant stable homotopy theory over the past decade. In this minicourse, we will discuss the equivariant slice filtration and associated spectral sequence, beginning with the case of G=C_2. Along the way, we will discuss Mackey functors and Bredon homology. The goal of the minicourse is for participants to become comfortable with the techniques that are commonly involved in determining a slice tower and computing a slice spectral sequence. The course will be aimed at graduate students.
Problem sessions: 11:30 am ET on 18 May, 25 May, 2022
Problem sessions are on Wednesdays. Carissa Slone (University of Kentucky) will lead the problem sessions.
Lectures: 11:30 am ET on 30 Nov, 2 Dec, and 7 Dec 2021
3-hour online mini-course, offered on consecutive Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30am in Detroit (Eastern Time).
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Problem sessions: 10:30 am ET on 7 Dec, 9 Dec and 14 Dec 2021
Each lecture has exercises, and there will be three problem sessions led by the speaker. If you are interested in working with others on the exercises before the problem session, you can use this spreadsheet to find other participants to work together, and contact each other to schedule study groups.
Speaker: Dan Isaksen, Wayne State University
Title: The computation of stable homotopy groups
Abstract: One of the central problems of stable homotopy theory is the computation of the stable homotopy groups. The most effective tool for computing the (2-primary) stable homotopy groups is the Adams spectral sequence. We will discuss how to set up and compute this spectral sequence, including the determination of differentials and the resolution of hidden extensions. The goal is for participants to become familiar with the skills required for carrying out the computation. We will discuss a variety of contributing ingredients, including the May spectral sequence, Massey products and Toda brackets, deformations of classical stable homotopy theory (i.e., motivic and synthetic stable homotopy theory), and machine-assisted computation.
4, 6, 11, and 13 May 2021
4-hour online mini-course, offered on consecutive Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30am in Detroit (Eastern Time).
Speaker: Sander Kupers, University of Toronto
Title: Homological stability
Webpage for the mini-course
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Abstract: This minicourse of four lectures is an introduction to a useful tool in an algebraic topologist’s arsenal: homological stability. Our goal is to explain what homological stability is, give you the tools to prove your own homological stability results, and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art. We will start by working out in detail homological stability for symmetric groups, originally due to Nakaoka. This example displays all the features of the “usual” homological stability argument, as formalised by Randal-Williams and Wahl. After we explain their argument and its input, we end by surveying more refined stability phenomena. These lectures are intended to be accessible to graduate students with a background in algebraic topology.
15, 17, and 22 September 2020
3-hour online mini-course, offered on consecutive Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30am Eastern time.
Speaker: Clover May, UCLA
Title: Equivariant cohomology
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Abstract: Equivariant homotopy theory has close connections to classical, chromatic, and motivic homotopy theory. Perhaps the most notable application is the use of equivariant computations in the solution to the Kervaire invariant one problem by Hill, Hopkins, and Ravenel. More recently, Pitsch, Ricka, and Scherer have completely characterized conjugation spaces using RO(G)-graded cohomology. Despite a growing body of work, many equivariant analogues of classical computations remain unknown.
This course will begin with a brief introduction to equivariant homotopy theory and RO(G)-graded cohomology. We will then turn to computations, focusing mainly on C_2, the cyclic group of order two. Even for C_2, the cohomology of a point is an infinite-dimensional non-Noetherian ring. While this complicates computations, we will learn some tools and techniques that simplify the calculations for a number of C_2-spaces. We will apply these techniques in several low-dimensional and accessible examples, including real projective space and the torus. This course is aimed at graduate students in homotopy theory.
12, 14, 19, and 21 May 2020
4-hour online mini-course, offered on consecutive Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30am in Detroit (Eastern Time).
Speaker: Gijs Heuts, Utrecht University
Title: Unstable homotopy groups
First talk video: Rational homotopy theory
First talk notes: Rational homotopy theory
Second talk video: The EHP sequence
Second talk notes: The EHP sequence
Third talk video: The Goodwillie tower
Third talk notes: The Goodwillie tower
Fourth talk video: Periodicity
Fourth talk notes: Periodicity
Abstract: This will be a four lecture crash course on calculational methods in unstable homotopy theory, containing a mixture of classical and some more modern material. There is a wide range of tools available with which to study the structure of the homotopy groups of spheres (and other spaces). In this course I will focus on the following: rational homotopy theory, the EHP sequence, the Goodwillie tower, and v_n-periodicity in unstable homotopy groups. I hope to explain how each of these informs our understanding of unstable homotopy theory and how they can be applied to calculations. These lectures are intended to be accessible to graduate students.
12, 14, 19 November 2019
3-hour online mini-course, offered on consecutive Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30am in Detroit (Eastern Time).
Speaker: Oliver Röndigs, Universität Osnabrück
Title: The motivic slice spectral sequence
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Abstract: Motivic or A^1-homotopy theory provides a friendly environment for the construction of a good spectral sequence converging to Quillen’s algebraic K-groups of a smooth variety. The aim of this lecture series is to explain Voevodsky’s approach to this construction, which proceeds by introducing a specific “slice” filtration on the motivic stable homotopy category of a scheme. This filtration will be applied to a few P^1-spectra, among them the P^1-spectra representing hermitian K-theory and algebraic K-theory. A major example will be the slice filtration on the motivic sphere spectrum. Its analysis provides a partial proof of Morel’s theorem, which identifies the zeroth stable homotopy groups of motivic spheres with Milnor-Witt K-theory, as well as a computation of the first stable homotopy groups of motivic spheres.
14, 16, 21, 23 May 2019
4-hour online mini-course, offered on consecutive Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30am in Detroit (Eastern Time).
Mini-course information, including presentation slides and references
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Speaker: Agnes Beaudry, University of Colorado
Title: An introduction to chromatic homotopy theory
Abstract: At the center of homotopy theory is the classical problem of understanding the stable homotopy groups of spheres. Despite its simple definition, this object is extremely intricate; there is no hope of computing it completely. It hides beauty and pattern behind a veil of complexity.
Chromatic homotopy theory gives us a way to see through this veil by using the algebraic geometry of formal groups to organize theory and computations. The simplest case is via K-theory: Bott periodicity gives rise to a repeating family of elements in the stable homotopy groups of spheres via the image of the J homomorphism. It is an insight of Morava that there are higher analogues of K-theory and that they should give rise to higher periodicity in the stable homotopy groups of spheres.
In the 1980s, Ravenel and Hopkins made a series of conjectures describing this connection, most of which were proved in the 1980s and 1990s by Devinatz, Hopkins, Smith and Ravenel. Two of these problems remain open: the chromatic splitting conjecture and the telescope conjecture. The ultimate goal of the course will be to motivate and state these two famous problems.
The course will include a quick reminder of spectra and a brief introduction to complex orientations and localizations. We will discuss periodicity and the chromatic filtration, leading to a statement of the two conjectures. We will also discuss the higher K-theories and the role they play in modern computations. Many topics will only be touched briefly, as my intention is to provide a roadmap of the field to non-experts.
I will assume the knowledge of an advanced course in algebraic topology, and some familiarity with the category of spectra, K-theory, the Adams operations and cobordism.
16, 18, 23, 25 October 2018
This is a special event. The ECHT community is experimenting with a 4-hour online mini-course, offered on consecutive Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11:30am in Detroit (Eastern Time).
Speaker: Akhil Mathew, University of Chicago
Title: Topological Hochschild homology and its applications
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Abstract: Topological Hochschild homology (THH) is an invariant of rings, a variant of ordinary Hochschild homology when the base ring is replaced with the sphere spectrum and all relevant constructions are carried out in spectra rather than chain complexes. The construction THH contains more information than Hochschild homology, and it acquires a rich additional structure called a cyclotomic spectrum. The resulting construction of topological cyclic homology (TC) has been used in many fundamental calculations of algebraic K-theory. More recently, THH has been used in the work of Bhatt, Morrow, and Scholze to build p-adic cohomology theories, which provide one-parameter deformations of algebraic de Rham cohomology in mixed characteristic.
In these talks, I will give an introduction to topological Hochschild homology and to the work of Bhatt-Morrow-Scholze.