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Geometry-Topology Seminar

Thursday, February 19, 2015 - 4:30pm

Lisa Traynor

Bryn Mawr College

Location

University of Pennsylvania

4C8

Smooth cobordisms between submanifolds play an important role in topology. I will discuss smooth cobordisms that have additional geometric conditions imposed by symplectic and contact structures. In particular, I will discuss Lagrangian cobordisms between Legendrian knots. Whereas the genus of a smooth cobordism (orientable or not) between a knot and itself can be arbitrary, the genus of an orientable Lagrangian endocobordism must vanish, and non-orientable Lagrangian endocobordisms must have a genus that is a multiple of 4. Furthermore, some Legendrian knots will have an infinite number of “exact” non-orientable, Lagrangian endocobordisms, while other Legendrian knots have none. This is joint work with Orsola Capovilla-Searle.