MATH 7520 - Berstein Seminar in Topology

Tim Riley, spring 2015.

This seminar will be on topics in combinatorial and geometric group theory, particularly as feature in the works of Gilbert Baumslag. Our focus is likely to include residual properties of groups, the Hopfian property, one-relator groups, parafree groups, finiteness properties, metabelian groups and embedding theorems, Marshall Hall’s theorem, fibre products, algorithmic decidability, automatic groups, group theoretic cryptography, and applications of HNN-extensions. Open problems and examples will be emphasized.

This is a seminar in which all take turns to present. The only prerequisite is a willingness to participate. We will attempt to cultivate good presentation skills and we may share our lectures through a blog.

See course web site for more information.