Morphing shapes: a guide to birational surgeries

Morphing shapes: a guide to birational surgeries

Algebraic Geometry studies geometric shapes (algebraic varieties) that are defined as solutions of polynomial equations in many variables. Such shapes can be distinguished according to their curvature: positive, zero, or negative.

In this talk Livia Campo will focus on those with positive curvature, called Fano varieties. The Minimal Model Program offered a novel approach to the classification of Fano varieties.

As a consequence, many of them can be transformed into one another by performing sequences of specific (birational) modifications. During this talk Livia will give an account of these birational surgeries carrying out a basic example, and will describe a picture that illustrates this procedure in a more complicated setting.

Speaker

Livia Campo, University of Birmingham/Saga University.

How to attend

If not a member of the Dept. Mathematical Science at the University of Essex, you can register your interest in attending the seminar and request the Zoom’s meeting password by emailing Dr Jesus Martinez-Garcia (jesus.martinez-garcia@essex.ac.uk).