December 3, 2015
Mathematics Colloquium lecture Dec. 3
Philip Hackney, Stockholm University, will present "Combinatorial Approaches in Homotopy Theory" as part of the Mathematics Department Colloquium Lecture series at 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 3, in 122 Cardwell Hall.
The abstract for the lecture is: Topological analogues of common algebraic notions, such as the idea of being a group, are not invariant when one passes between spaces which are homotopy equivalent. What should a "group up to homotopy" mean? The exploration of homotopy invariant versions of categorical and algebraic structures has been ongoing since the early days of algebraic topology.
Our focus will be on the interface between category theory and homotopy theory. Specifically, we will discuss aspects of the homotopy theory of operads and props.