Math 550.
Equivariant topology
Fall, 2012.
The course meets MWF 11:00-11:50 in Hylan 1101.
The first meeting will be on Friday August 31.

Equivariant topology is the study of topological spaces equipped with symmetry groups.

In 2009 it was used by Mike Hill, Mike Hopkins and myself to solve a 50 year old problem in algebraic topology concerning the Arf-Kervaire invariant.

Mike Hill, myself and Mike Hopkins Photo taken by Bill Browder, February 11, 2010

In the process of doing this we found some new methods for studying such spaces. Some of them are quite elementary and could lead to some interesting thesis problems. They are the subject of this course. This is a chance to get in on the ground floor of a new research area. There is some low lying mathematical fruit here.

 

Return to course home page