March 19, 2010 from 16:00 to 18:00 (Montreal/EST time) On location
Colloquium presented by Michael Larsen
Given a group G, a set of variables x_1,...,x_n, and a word in the x_i and their inverses, one can define the evaluation map or *word map* from G^n to G. There has been a flurry of recent interest in results asserting that under various hypotheses, word maps are surjective or at least have large image. I will discuss some of these results, the varied techniques (from algebraic geometry, analytic number theory, and harmonic analysis) which have been employed, and a number of questions which remain open.
Address
UQAM, Pav. Sherbrooke, 200, rue Sherbrooke O., room SH-3420