Notre Dame

Algebraic Geometry/ Commutative Algebra Seminar

Spring 2009

(3-4pm on Wednesday)

Date

Time/Place

Speaker

Title

Jan 14

 

 

 

Jan 21

 

 

(no seminar)

Jan 28

 

 

(no seminar)

Feb 4

3pm

258 Hurley

Uli Walther

(Purdue)

Hypergeometric functions: the GKZ-perspective

Feb 11

3pm

258 Hurley

Christine Berkesch

(Purdue)

The rank of a hypergeometric system

Feb 18

 

 

(no seminar)

Feb 25

 

 

(no seminar)

Mar 4

 

 

 

Mar 6-8

 

 

 2nd Bluegrass Algebra Conference

Mar 11

 

 

(Spring break, no seminar)

Mar 18

(colloquium talk)

 

Bernd Ulrich

(Purdue)

 

Mar 23

3pm

258 Hurley

Kuei-Nuan Lin

(Purdue)

Diagonal ideals of determinantal rings

Mar 25

3pm

258 Hurley

Lance Bryant

(Purdue)

 

Apr 1

 

 

 

Apr 6

(colloquium talk)

4pm

258 Hurley

Tommaso de Fernex

(Utah)

Rigidity properties of Fano manifolds

Apr 8

 

 

 

Apr 15

 

 

 

Apr 22

3pm

258 Hurley

Sandra Di Rocco

(KTH Stockholm)

Classifying polytopes via Toric fibrations.

Apr 29

3pm

258 Hurley

Bonnie Smith

(Notre Dame)

Strongly Stable Ideals and the Core

May 6

 

 

 


Past seminars: Fall 2008, Spring 2008.

Student Alg. Geom. - Comm. Alg. Seminar.

 

Abstract of Talks:

 

Feb 4. Uli Walther (Purdue) : Hypergeometric functions: the GKZ-perspective

Abstract: Starting with some classical hypergeometric functions, we explain how to
derive their classical univariate differential equations. A severe change
of coordinates transforms this ODE into a system of PDE's that has nice
geometric aspects. This type of system, called A-hypergeometric, was
introduced by Gelfand, Graev, Kapranov and Zelevinsky in about 1985. We
explain some basic questions regarding these systems. These are addressed
through homology, combinatorics, and toric geometry.

Feb 11. Christine Berkesch (Purdue): The rank of a hypergeometric system

Abstract: An A-hypergeometric system is a parametric system of PDEs arising from
a toric ideal. The dimension of its solution space, called its rank,
is constant for generic parameters. I will discuss the combinatorial
nature of its rank at non-generic parameters.

Mar 23. Kuei-Nuan Lin (Purdue): Diagonal ideals of determinantal rings

Abstract: Let k be a field, X = (x_ij) an m by n matrix of variables over k, I =
It(X),the ideal of k[{x_ij}] generated by the t by t minors of X, and R
= k[{x_ij}]/I. We consider the diagonal ideal D of R tensor R. The
special fiber ring of D is the homogeneous coordinate ring of the secant
variety of the determinantal variety Z =V (I). We know that secant
variety SecZ = V (I_2t−1(T)) where T = (t_ij) is a m by n matrix. We
extend this fact by showing that the Rees algebra of D, R(D) is
Cohen-Macaulay and moreover D is a an ideal of linear type when t = m,
which means that the natural map from the symmetric algebra Sym(D) onto
the Rees algebra R(D) is an isomorphism.

Apr 6. Tommaso de Fernex (Utah): Rigidity properties of Fano manifolds.

Abstract: A complex projective manifold is said to be Fano if the determinant of

its tangent bundle is "positive". In algebraic geometry, this is the
equivalent of a differentiable manifold with positive curvature. Fano
manifolds occupy a special place in classification theory: projective
spaces belong this class, and in dimension two Fano surfaces have been
extensively studied in the literature. It is known that projective
spaces are rigid under small deformations, and even though some of the
Fano surfaces are not rigid, the essential aspects of their geometry
remain unaltered under small deformations. This appears to be a
general property of Fano manifolds. We will explain this phenomenon,

presenting some interesting examples and discussing what is known and
what is expected. This is joint work with C. Hacon.

 

Apr 22. Sandra Di Rocco (KTH Stockholm): Classifying polytopes via Toric fibrations.

 

Abstract: A fibration between toric varieties, embedded in projective
space, can be described by certain fibered polytopes. When the fibration
has a projective space as generic fiber, embedded linearly,  the polytope
is called a strict Cayley polytope. It turns out that this class of
polytopes encodes exceptional geometrical properties of the corresponding
toric embeddings.  Batyrev and Nill have recently conjectured a relation
between the degree of a convex polytope and the property of having a
Cayley-structure. A proof of the conjecture for smooth polytopes will be
presented. The result is obtained by translating the problem into toric
geometry. This is  joint work with A. Dickenstein and R. Piene.

 

Apr 29. Bonnie Smith (Notre Dame): Strongly Stable Ideals and the Core

 

Abstract:  Ideals in k[X_1,...,X_d] which are strongly stable of degree two (SS2) are those which can be pictured by tableaux of a certain shape.  We will see how the tableau associated to an SS2 ideal I gives us a primary decomposition for I, as well as other information necessary for computing the core of I.  We will then discuss residual intersections of ideals (a generalization of linkage), and conclude by showing how results from this topic help us to find the core of an SS2 ideal.


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