This seminar is a platform to present talks by visitors or by our own Faculty on algebraic geometry and related topics. It is run as of Fall 2017 by Lei FU, Jinzhao PAN, Quan XU and me. For suggestions, please contact one of us; for practical matters see Quan or Jinzhao.
Time and Place: Thursdays 15:30-16:30, conference room 3, Floor 2, Jin Chun Yuan West Building.
Oct. 20: Robert Perlis (Louisiana State U., US): The Yelton-Gaines Conjecture.
Abstract: It is well-known that two permutations of n objects are conjugate if and only if they have the same cycle
structure. A much harder question is: When are two ordered pairs of permutations simultaneously conjugate? This will
be an expository talk with examples.
Oct. 27: Quan Xu (YMSC): A functorial Riemann-Roch theorem in positive characteristic.
Abstract: In this talk, I will recall Riemann-Roch theorems in different kinds of backgroud. Then, by the proof of the
Adams-Riemann-Roch theorem by Pink and Rossler, I will give an analogue of Deligne's functorial Riemann-Roch
theorem in positive characteristic.
Nov. 3: Zongbin Chen (YMSC): Introduction to the affine grassmannian and the affine Springer fibers.
Abstract: It dates back at least to Weil that the affine grassmannian uniformizes the moduli stack of vector bundles on
an algebraic curve. At first sight, this is a simple observation, but it turns out to be very fruitful: It has been the main
ingredient in the work of Beauville-Laszlo on the conformal block, it is also a starting point to a localisation approach of
Frenkel-Gaitsgory on the geometric Langlands program, etc. In the same spirit, the affine Springer fiber is the
uniformisation of the compactified jacobians. They have been the geometrisation of the orbital integrals, and appeared in
the proof of the fundamental lemma of Langlands-Shelstad. In this talk, I will try to give an elementary introduction to
these two objects. The talk should be accessible to a large audience.
Nov. 10: Yinbang Lin (YMSC): Moduli spaces of stable pairs.
A stable pair on a smooth projective variety is a coherent sheaf with a morphism from a fixed coherent sheaf. I will talk
about the existence of the moduli space under a stability condition. The construction is via geometric invariant theory.
Then I will describe the related deformation and obstruction theory. In some examples, there are virtual fundamental
classes. I will also discuss the integration of some tautological classes.
Nov. 17: Yao Yuan (YMSC): Determinant line bundles and Strange duality on curves.
This is an introductory talk on the strange duality conjecture. We start from the definition and some basic properties
of determinant line bundles, leading to the set-up of the strange duality conjecture. We state the conjecture for
curves and review its proof by Marian-Oprea.
Nov. 24: Yao Yuan (YMSC): Strange duality on rational surfaces.
Although the strange duality conjecture has been proved for curves, very few cases of it are known for surfaces. We
will talk about some cases known for rational surfaces, where one of the two moduli spaces involved parametrizes
1-dimensional semistable sheaves, and the other parametrizes rank 2 semistable sheaves.
Dec. 1: Sz-Sheng Wang (YMSC): Complete intersection threefolds in Projective bundles (work in progress).
We study complete intersection threefolds with a small contraction in projective bundles over a smooth fourfold. It is
a straightforward generalization of the construction of complete intersection Calabi–Yau (CICY) threefolds in a product
of projective spaces (Candelas et al. 1988). As an application, we supply a proof of the result by P.S. Green and
T. Hubsch (1988) that all CICY threefolds in product of projective spaces are connected through projective conifold
transitions.
Dec. 8: Han Wu (ETH Zürich, Switzerland): Subconvexity and Equidistribution of Heegner points.
We will discuss the subconvexity problems for GL2 ⅹ GL2, GL2 ⅹ GL1 and their relation to the problem of
equidistribution of Heegner points. Emphasis will be put on the translation of the equidistribution problem into a
subconvexity problem, and the idea of amplification used in solving the subconvexity problems. Other technical
points will be avoided.
Dec. 15: Qizheng Yin (BICMR Peking University): The Chow ring of hyper-Kähler varieties.
We survey recent progress in the study of algebraic cycles on hyper-Kähler varieties, centering around the
Beauville-Voisin conjecture. We also discuss the use of moduli spaces of curves in the subject.
Dec. 22: Ziyang Gao (Princeton U., US & CNRS France): Family version of the Mordell-Lang conjecture.
In this talk I will explain how a conjecture of Pink is the appropriate family version of the Mordell-Lang conjecture.
Then I will explain the situation for this conjecture. In particular it is proven for curves in any family of abelian varieties.
Dec. 29: Xiaolei Zhao (Northwestern U., US): Stability conditions and Bogomolov inequality in dimension three.
Bridgeland stability conditions are a central tool in algebraic geometry in recent years. Despite of its successful
applications to surfaces, the existence in dimension three is still an open question. In this talk, I will introduce the
construction of stability conditions on threefolds by Bogomolov inequality, and explain the recent progress on Fano
threefolds and certain toric threefolds. This is based on my joint work with Bernardara, Macri and Schmidt.
Jan. 12: Rob de Jeu (VU Amsterdam, Neth.): Generalisations of the Hodge conjecture to higher algebraic K-theory.
The Hodge conjecture predicts the images of the Chow groups (with rational coefficients) of a smooth, projective
variety over the complex numbers in terms of the Hodge structure of its cohomology groups. The direct sum of these
Chow groups form the K_0 (tensored with the rationals) of the variety, and as such the Hodge conjecture is also a
conjecture about K_0. Beilinson formulated a generalisation of this conjecture to the higher algebraic K-groups of
smooth, quasi-projective varieties over the complex numbers, but this turned out to be too optimistic. We discuss when
this conjecture could still hold, which includes a relative version, and provide some evidence in those cases. This is
joint work with James Lewis and/or Deepam Patel.
March 2: Thomas Koberda (U. of Virginia, US): Quotients of surface groups via TQFT.
I will show how to construct linear quotients of surface groups which are infinite, and where each simple loop has
finite order. As an application, I will construct finite covers of surfaces where the pullbacks of simple loops fail to
generate the integral homology. We thus answer questions due to Looijenga. This represents joint work with
R. Santharoubane.
March 9: Dasheng Wei (AMSS CAS Beijing): Strong approximation for certain norm varieties.
In this talk, we will introduce some norm varieties which satisfy weak approximation or strong approximation.
These norm varieties are a generalization of universal torsors of Chatelet surfaces. Some applications were also given for
rational points and integral points by the descent theory.
March 16: Chao Zhang (YMSC): Truncated displays with additional structure and reductions of Shimura varieties.
The theory of displays, invented by D. Mumford and later developped by P. Norman, T. Zink, and E .Lau, is a Dieudonné
theory dealing with p-divisible groups. Truncated displays are introduced by Lau recently to study truncated p-divisible
groups, i.e. BT-ms. In this talk, I will explain what are truncated displays, and how to put additional structure on them.
Then I will show how to use them to define and study level m tratifications on reductions of Shimura varieties.
March 23: Sheng-Li Tan (Eastern China Normal University, Shanghai): Moduli Spaces of Curves and Holomorphic Foliations on an Algebraic Surface.
In the 19th century, Darboux, Painlev\’e and Poincar\’e studied differential equations of the first order by using
complex algebraic geometry. The set of holomorphic solutions of the differential equation is called a holomorphic
foliation. In fact, holomorphic foliations can be viewed as a generalization of pencils of algebraic curves, i.e.,
fibrations on an algebraic surface. Poincaré proposed the following research program:
— Study the (topological) properties of families of algebraic curves on a complex algebraic surface, and check if they
are the properties of differential equations.
— Find numerical invariants of complex differential equations.
— Classify complex differential equations according to their invariants.
— Characterize those complex differential equations which are algebraically integrable
— Apply to some problems on real differential equations.
In this lecture, I will talk about some birational invariants of foliations coming from the moduli spaces of curves.
March 30: Eduard Looijenga (YMSC): Some Algebraic Geometry related to the mapping class group.
Since this talk is aimed at algebraic geometers, we begin with reviewing some basic constructions of
Teichmueller theory. We then explain how Hodge theory helps us to understand certain representations of
the mapping class group. But this talk is more about open problems than about definitive results.
April 6: no seminar.
April 13: Jin Cao (YMSC): Constructing Elliptic Motives by Cycle Algebras (in Lecture Hall, Floor 3).
In this talk, we recall the theory of cdgas over a reductive group. As one application, we show that how to use this theory to reconstruct motives of an elliptic curve without CM in the sense of Voevodsky.
April 20: Minxian Zhu (YMSC): Periods and hypergeometric equations.
We will investigate the periods of Calabi-Yau hypersurfaces in toric varieties. It turns out that they satisfy a system of
differential equations, known as the Gelfand-Kapranov-Zelevinsky (GKZ) hypergeometric equations. We will review
some basic properties of these equations and discuss a conjecture by Hosono-Lian-Yau (HLY) describing the precise
relation between periods and solutions to the GKZ system. This talk is intended as a survey of HLY's work in the
midnineties.
April 27: Jilong Tong (Capital Normal University & University of Bordeaux 1): A glimpse of anabelian geometry.
After a quick review of the definition of algebraic fundamental groups, we shall survey certain aspects of the
anabelian geometry introduced by Grothendieck, including some important progress made by Tamagawa and
Mochizuki. If time allows, we will explain a new (but still vague) idea in my joint project with Mao SHENG aiming at
a better understanding of anabelian geometry in positive characteristic.
June 1: Weizhe Zheng (Morningside Center of Mathematics, CAS): Nearby cycles over general bases.
Nearby cycles and vanishing cycles in étale cohomology were introduced by Grothendieck in the cohomological study
of singular families. Title: On the semi-simplicity of geometric Monodromy action in Fl coefficients.
November 9: Duo Li, YMSC Tsinghua University: Simple birational maps.
We study K-equivalent birational maps which are resolved by a single blowup. Examples of such maps include
standard flops and twisted Mukai flops. We give a criterion for such maps to be a standard flop or a twisted Mukai flop.
As an application, we classify all such birational maps up to dimension 5.
November 16: Hui Chunyin (YMSC, Tsinghua University): On the semi-simplicity of geometric Monodromy action in Fl coefficient.
Let X/Fq be a smooth separated geometrically connected variety and f: Y —> X a smooth projective morphism. Let t be
a geometric point of X and w a positive integer. A celebrated result of Deligne states the geometric etale fundamental
group π1et (XFq,t) is semi-simple on Hw(Yt, Ql) for all prime l not dividing q. By comparing the invariant
dimensions of sufficiently many l-adic and mod l represntation arising from Hw(Yt, Ql) and Hw(Yt, Fl) respectively,
we prove π1et (XFq,t) is semi-simple on Hw(Yt, Fl) for all sufficiently large l, generalizing Deligne's result. This is a
joint work with Anna Cadoret and Akio Tamagawa.
November 23: Zuo Huaiqing (YMSC, Tsinghua University): New derivation Lie algebras and non-existence of negative weight derivations of isolated singularities.
Let $R$ be a positively graded Artinian algebra. A long-standing conjecture in algebraic geometry, and rational
homotopy theory is the non-existence of negative weight derivations on $R$. On the one hand, Aleksandrov
conjectured that there is no negative weight derivation when $R$ is a complete intersection algebra. On the other
hand, Wahl conjectured that non-existence of negative weight derivations is still true for positive dimensional
positively graded $R$. In this talk, we shall first introduce new derivation Lie algebras of isolated singularities and
some results related to these new Lie algebras. Also our recent progresses on the above conjectures will be presented.
November 30: Wen Hao (Tsinghua University): Counting Multiplicities in a Hypersurface over a Number Field.
In this talk, I will consider a multiplicity-counting problem, concerning rational points (moreover, algebraic points) of
a bounded height in a projective hypersurface over a number field. Using techniques of intersection theory, I will
give an upper bound for the sum of the multiplicity of these points, with respect to a fixed counting function, in terms
of the degree of the hypersurface, the dimension of the singular locus and the upper bound of height.
December 7: No seminar, but we'll have an International Conference on Algebraic Geometry instead.
December 14: Pan Xuanyu (AMSS, Chinese Academy of Sciences): 1-Cycles on Fano manifolds.
In this talk I will survey 1-cycles on Fano manifolds. It is well known that Fano manifolds have many rational curves,
in particular, they are rationally connected. The geometry of Fano manifolds is governed by rational curves. So
cycles on Fano manifolds should be understood from their rational curves. Under this observation, I will also talk
about recent joint work with Cristian Minoccheri on 1-cycles on higher Fano manifolds.
December 21: Wang Zhenjian (YMSC,Tsinghua University): On homogeneous polynomials determined by their Jacobian ideals.
The Jacobian ideal is an important algebraic object that can be constructed from a homogeneous polynomial. In
this talk, we shall discuss which homogeneous polynomials can be re-constructed (up to a multiplicative constant)
from their Jacobian ideals.