EVENT DETAILS AND ABSTRACT

Title: Reeb Dynamics and Contact Invariants
Speaker: Jo Nelson
Speaker Info: Columbia University
Brief Description:
Special Note: Pre-talk
Abstract:

Contact geometry is the study of geometric structures on odd dimensional smooth manifolds given by a hyperplane field specified by a one form which satisfies a maximum nondegeneracy condition called complete non-integrability. The associated one form is called a contact form and uniquely determines a vector field called the Reeb vector field on the manifold. In addition to providing an accessible introduction aimed at the lay mathematician, I will also explain how one to make use of J-holomorphic curves to obtain a Floer theoretic contact invariant whose chain complex is generated by Reeb orbits. This talk will feature lots of graphics to acclimate people to the realm of contact geometry.