University Seminar (CCAS)-Colloquium: Rectangular diagrams of links, surfaces and foliations

Title: Rectangular diagrams of links, surfaces and foliations

Speaker : Prof. Ivan Dynnikov (Moscow State University)

When: 10/20 (Friday) 2:00 PM- 3:00 PM

Where: Rome 206

Abstract: Rectangular diagrams are a specific way to represent one- and two-dimensional objects in the three-sphere. They appear to have a strong connection with contact topology, and nice combinatorial properties, which
make them useful for solving algorithmic problems of knot theory. In particular, they allow us to construct a particularly simple algorithm for recognizing the unknot and to solve the problem of algorithmic classification of Legendrian links. By using the formalism of rectangular diagrams one can represent explicitly such a complicated object as a taut finite depth foliation in a link complement. This sounds promising for further applications.