Summary

The eCHT algebraic K-theory seminar is an online reading seminar in Fall 2020. The target audience is graduate students and postdoctoral faculty, although more senior faculty are also welcome. The similarly structured eCHT topological Hochschild homology reading seminar was held in Winter 2020.

Algebraic K-theory has lately received a new suite of tools for computation coming from infinity-categorical approaches, but mathematicians have been explicitly computing K-groups since the 1950’s. The goal of this seminar is to examine these “20th century” approaches to computing algebraic K-theory and see just how far we can get with these tools.

We will follow carefully chosen written material. We will favor deeper understanding over rushing through a larger body of material.

Participants are expected to have a solid grounding in algebraic topology, at the level of Hatcher’s or Spanier’s text or similar.  Some familiarity with algebraic geometry, K-theory, or stable homotopy theory will be beneficial but is not strictly required.

Expectations

Participants in the seminar will:

• Attend weekly online presentations.
• Give at least one presentation.
• Spend approximately one hour per week preparing for each presentation by skimming the material to be presented.
• Participate actively in an online discussion board on Overleaf, by posting comments, asking questions, or responding to other comments.

The work of the seminar will remain private among the participants. We may record presentations, but only for use by other participants. Our discussion board will not be made available to the public.

Presentations can be given with prepared beamer slides, or with hand-written notes on a tablet. See recent eCHT seminar recordings for some examples of both styles.

Students are encouraged to obtain independent study credit from their home universities for their participation in the seminar, but this is not required.

Organizers

The eCHT algebraic K-theory seminar is organized by John Berman (University of Texas) and Ian Coley (Rutgers University). Contact either organizer for more information.

Application

Please submit an application form by Friday August 21 if you are interested in participating.

Schedule

The seminar meets on Wednesdays at 11:00am Eastern time.  It runs September 2 through December 9, except for November 25.