Graduate Algebraic Geometry Seminar Spring 2025

When:

Where:

Who: All undergraduate and graduate students interested in algebraic geometry, abstract algebra, commutative algebra, representation theory, and related fields are welcome to attend.

Why: The purpose of this seminar is to learn algebraic geometry, commutative algebra, and broadly algebra itself, by giving and listening to talks in a informal setting. Sometimes people present an interesting topic or paper they find. Other times people give a prep talk for the Algebraic Geometry Seminar. Other times people give a series of talks on a topic they have been studying in-depth. Regardless the goal of GAGS is to provide a supportive and inclusive place for all to learn more about algebraic geometry and commutative algebra.

How: If you want to get emails regarding time, place, and talk topics, add yourself to the gags mailing list: gags@g-groups.wisc.edu by sending an email to gags+subscribe@g-groups.wisc.edu. If you prefer (and are logged in under your wisc google account) the list registration page is here.

Enrollment in Seminar:

Organizers: Kevin Dao, Yu (Joey) Luo, and Boyana Martinova.

Give a talk!

We need volunteers to give talks. Beginning graduate students are encouraged to give a talk. If you need ideas, see the wish list below, the main page, or talk to an organizer. It is expected that people enrolled in Math 941: Seminar in Algebra must give a talk to get credit. Sign up sheet:

New Wishlist as of Fall 2024

This wishlist is based on requests from graduate students (new and old). Don't be intimidated by the list (especially as a new graduate student), a lot of the topics here are advanced. You are always welcome to give a talk on a topic that does not appear on this list. If you are looking for a topic and none of the ones listed below sound compelling to you, you can always reach out to one of the organizers for more ideas!

Topics in Representation Theory. There are many topics one can discussion: explaining Lie algebra representations via Fulton-Harris's book (Lecture 7-9), Brauer theory, the Stone-von Neumann theorem, classification and determination of unitary representations, the Harish-Chandra isomorphism, Borel-Bott-Weil, historical results such as Frobenius determinants. Quiver representations are another topic; there is a well-written book by Ralf Schiffler you could look at for this topic.
The Riemann-Roch Theorem, its generalizations: Grothendieck-Riemann-Roch, Hirzebruch-Riemann-Roch, and applications.
GAGA Theorems and how to use them. Some ideas on important results to talk about can be found here. For some references to look at: the appendix in Hartshorne's Algebraic Geometry, Serre's original GAGA paper, and Neeman's book Algebraic and Analytic Geometry.
Cohen-Macaulay rings and schemes and variants of this type. A useful topic for those working with "mild singularities". The standard reference for this stuff is the book by Brunz and Herzog, but Eisenbud's Commutative Algebra book also has a lot of things to say about CM rings.
Hodge Theory for the working Algebraic Geometer. What is the Hodge decomposition? What is the Hard Lefschetz Theorem? What is the statement of the Hodge conjecture? Dolbeault cohomology?
Algebraic Curves via Hartshorne Chapter IV. What can be said projective curves of degree d and genus g? How do (did) people study algebraic curves? What are the important facts about curves a working algebraic geometer should know?
Algebraic Suraces via Hartshorne Chapter V and Beauville's Complex Algebraic Surfaces. What does the birational classification of complex algebraic surfaces look like? How should we classify objects?
Vector Bundles on P^n. A good reference for this is "Vector Bundles on Complex Projective Spaces" by Christian Okonek. Interesting points of discussion could inclued any of: Horrock's Criterion for vector bundles, Beilinson's Theorem, splitting of uniform bundles of rank r<n, moduli of stable 2-bundles, constructions of vector bundles on P^n for low values of n, Serre's construction of rank 2 bundles, proof of the Grothendieck-Birkhoff Theorem, and etc. These are all very classical problems / theorems in algebraic geometry and a talk on these topics would make a great expository talk.
Basics of Moduli: functor of points, representable functors, moduli of curves M_g, moduli of Abelian varieties of dimension g, and why do we care? A reference is Harris and Morrison, but there is the now growing textbook by Jarod Alper titled "Stacks and Moduli". Lots of lots of examples are encouraged.
What is a syzygy? Compute some minimal free resolutions and tell people about how syzygies can tell you a lot about a curve. The Geometry of Syzygies by David Eisenbud is also a good reference and introduction to this topic.
Derived categories and the Fourier-Mukai Transform. Introduce derived categories and explain their importance in algebraic geometry e.g. through the Fourier-Mukai transform. The book "Fourier-Mukai Transforms in Algebraic Geometry" by Daniel Huybrechts is a good reference for this stuff, but there is also the notes by Andrei Căldăraru on the Arxiv which are more to the point.
Introduction to Algebraic Stacks: there are a number of references for this e.g. Alper's notes on Moduli, "Algebraic Stacks" by Tomas L. Gomez, the original paper of Deligne and Mumford titled "The Irreducibility of the Space of Curves of Given Genus", Martin Olsson's book "Algebraic Spaces and Stacks", and so on. Examples would be strongly encouraged over technical details and Alper's notes and/or Gomez's article are the best for this.
There are many many classes of varieties out there that people are interested -- pick one and it could very well be a talk on its own! Here are a few examples; abelian varieties, secant varieties, tangent varieties, Kazdan-Lutszig varieties, toric varieties, flag varieties, Fano varieties, Prym varieties, and beyond.

Being an audience member

The goal of GAGS is to create a safe and comfortable space inclusive of all who wish to expand their knowledge of abstract algebra, algebraic geometry, representation theory, and commutative algebra. In order to promote such an environment in addition to the standard expectations of respect/kindness all participants are asked to following the following guidelines: