Oliver Club

Allen YuanColumbia University
A brief tour of higher algebra

Friday, November 4, 2022 - 4:00pm
Malott 532 (Lounge)

Higher algebra is an enlargement of ordinary algebra arising from the study of extraordinary cohomology theories in algebraic topology. Despite its origins, higher algebra has seen recent applications to mod p phenomena in geometry, number theory, representation theory, and beyond.

In this talk, I’ll start with a gentle and historical introduction to higher algebra and try to explain why it’s so powerful: a key player is the so-called “chromatic filtration” which interpolates between characteristic 0 and characteristic p. At the end, I’ll describe some new developments in the area, including recent joint work with Burklund and Schlank which proves a higher algebra analogue of Hilbert’s Nullstellensatz.

Refreshments will be served at 3:30 PM.