When:
Friday, October 18, 2024
4:00 PM - 5:15 PM CT
Where: Lunt Hall, 105, 2033 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208 map it
Audience: Faculty/Staff - Student - Public - Post Docs/Docs - Graduate Students
Contact:
Daniel Mallory
Group: Department of Mathematics: Graduate Student Seminar
Category: Lectures & Meetings
Title: Knot Invariants
Abstract: Knots are circles embedded into 3-dimensional space. They can appear simple like S^1 sitting in R^3, or they can appear complicated like tied-up shoelaces. We will consider the question: when can a knot be untangled into a simple circle? To approach this we will introduce some invariants of knots such as the Jones polynomial and its fancier version, Khovanov homology. We will explain what "categorification" is and how Khovanov homology "categorifies" the Jones polynomial.
Note: The talk will start at 4:10 pm