Previous Special Year Seminar

May
02
2006

Lie Groups, Representations and Discrete Mathematics

Almost Normal Subgroups of Lattices
George Willis
2:00pm|S-101

Let $G$ be a simple $G(\mathbf Q)$-group of $G(\mathbf Q)$-rank at least 2. In 1987 T. N. Venkataramana showed that if $\Gamma \subset G(\mathbf Z)$ is an infinite subgroup whose commensurator is a subgroup of finite index in $G(\mathbf Z)$, then $...

Apr
25
2006

Lie Groups, Representations and Discrete Mathematics

Relative Property T in Lie Groups and their Lattices
Yves de Cornulier
2:00pm|S-101

A pair (G,H), where G is a group and H a subgroup, has relative Property T if every isometric action of G on a Hilbert space has a H-fixed point. In a connected Lie group or a lattice G, we characterize subgroups H such that (G,H) has relative...

Apr
21
2006

Arithmetic Homogeneous Spaces

Superrigidity, Weyl Group, and Actions on the Circle
Alex Furman
11:00am|S-101

The remarkable phenomenon of Superrigidity, discovered by Margulis in the context of linear representations of lattices in higher rank semi-simple groups, has motivated and inspired a lot of research on other "higher rank" groups and representations...

Apr
18
2006

Lie Groups, Representations and Discrete Mathematics

Actions of Product Groups on Manifolds
Alex Furman
2:00pm|S-101

We analyze volume-preserving actions of product groups on Riemannian manifolds. Under a natural spectral irreducibility assumption, we prove the following dichotomy: Either the action is measurably isometric, in which case there are at most two...

Apr
04
2006

Lie Groups, Representations and Discrete Mathematics

Isospectrality and Commensurability
2:00pm|S-101

In previous work we showed that arithmetic hyperbolic 2-manifolds that are isospectral are commensurable. In this talk we discuss the proof of the generalization to dimension 3. We had previously shown that if arithmetic hyperbolic 3-manifolds are...

Mar
31
2006

Joint Arithmetic Homogeneous Spaces and Number Theory Seminar

Some Modular Generating Functions for Arithmetic Cycles
11:00am|S-101

In this talk I will give an overview of joint work with M. Rapoport and T. Yang on the construction of generating series whose coefficients are the classes of special divisors and 0-cycles on the arithmetic surfaces attached to Shimura curves. These...

Mar
24
2006

Arithmetic Homogeneous Spaces

Estimates From Below for the Remainder in Local Weyl's Law
D. Jakobson
11:00am|S-101

We obtain asymptotic lower bounds for the spectral function of the Laplacian and for the remainder in local Weyl's law on compact manifolds. In the negatively curved case, thermodynamic formalism is applied to improve the estimates. Our results can...

Mar
21
2006

Lie Groups, Representations and Discrete Mathematics

Cartesian Products as Profinite Completions and Representation Growth of Groups
4:00pm|S-101

We prove that if a Cartesian product of alternating groups is topologically finitely generated, then it is the profinite completion of a finitely Generated residually finite group. The same holds for Cartesian products of other simple groups under...

Mar
21
2006

Lie Groups, Representations and Discrete Mathematics

Linear Representations of the Automorphism Group of a Free Group
2:10pm|S-101

This talk is about joint work with A. Lubotzky. Let $F_n$ be the free group on $n\ge 2$ elements and $\A(F_n)$ its group of automorphisms. We have contructed new linear representations of $\A(F_n)$ arising through the action of finite index...