Graduate Workshop on Symplectic and Contact Topology, October 15 -19, 2012

Workshop on Symplectic and Contact Topology – Fall 2012

Organized by Mohammed Abouzaid and Yakov Eliashberg

This graduate student workshop will be associated with the program in Symplectic Topology at the Center during the Fall of 2012. The workshop will be organized by Yakov Eliashberg and Mohammed Abouzaid (both in residence at the Center for the Fall semester). There have been tremendous advances in Symplectic Topology and Contact Topology over the last 10 years with the introduction of Floer theory and symplectic field theory. Symplectic (co)homology is one of the simplest invariants to arise out of these deveopments, and has, since its introduction, been responsible for several breakthroughs in symplectic topology (construction of exotic symplectic structures and study of Lagrangian embedding), contact dynamics (Weinstein conjecture on the existence of Reeb orbits) and mirror symmetry (construction of mirrors of Lie group action).  The goal of this workshop is to introduce graduate students to developments in the study of the symplectic topology of Stein manifolds via pseudo-holomorphic curves, with a focus on symplectic cohomology.  The first part of the workshop will consist of student lectures about the basics of holomorphic curves and Floer homology, culminating in the construction of symplectic cohomology, and its computation in the simplest examples.  These lectures will be followed by lectures by the organizers and others senior mathematicians in residence who will provide perspective on the applications of the theory, and its interaction with related mathematical fields.

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