Ribbon Homology Cobordisms

Date: 
Friday, 10 January, 2020 - 14:00 - 16:00
Venue: 
LSB 222
Seminar Type: 
Seminar
Speaker Name: 
Dr. Mike Chuen-Ming WONG
Affiliation: 
Louisiana State University
Abstract: 

A cobordism between 3-manifolds is ribbon if it has no 3-handles. Such cobordisms arise naturally from several different topological and geometric contexts. In this talk, we describe a few obstructions to their existence, from Thurston geometries, character varieties, and instanton and Heegaard Floer homologies, and some applications.