Brandeis-Harvard-MIT-Northeastern

JOINT MATHEMATICS COLLOQUIUM


Rationality of cubic hypersurfaces.

Brendan Hassett

Brown
 

Brandeis University

Thursday, February 4, 2016

Talk at 4:30 p.m. in 317 Goldsmith Hall

Tea at 4:00 p.m. in 100 Goldsmith Hall


 

Abstract: A cubic hypersurface is a complex manifold realized as the zeros of a cubic form in projective space. In 1969, Clemens and Griffiths applied Hodge theory to show that all cubic threefolds are irrational. On the other hand, numerous examples of rational cubic fourfolds are known. In a series of recent papers, Voisin has revisited these questions using the technique of decomposition of the diagonal. We'll survey recent results applying these new ideas.



Home Web page: Alexandru I. Suciu Posted: September 19, 2015
Comments to: i.loseu@neu.edu URL: http://northeastern.edu/iloseu/bhmn/hassett16.html