Calendar
Canonical forms for free group automorphisms
Jean Pierre Mutanguha (Princeton University)
Location: Hill Center, Room 705
Date & time: Tuesday, 06 December 2022 at 4:00PM - 5:00PM
Seminar website: https://sites.google.com/view/rutgersgeometrytopologyseminar/home
Abstract:
The Nielsen–Thurston theory of surface homeomorphisms can be thought of as a surface analogue to the Jordan canonical form. I will discuss my progress in developing a similar canonical form for free group automorphisms. (Un)Fortunately, free group automorphisms can have arbitrarily complicated behaviour. This is a significant barrier to translating arguments that worked for surfaces into the free group setting; nevertheless, the overall ideas/strategies do translate!
The Nielsen–Thurston theory of surface homeomorphisms can be thought of as a surface analogue to the Jordan canonical form. I will discuss my progress in developing a similar canonical form for free group automorphisms. (Un)Fortunately, free group automorphisms can have arbitrarily complicated behaviour. This is a significant barrier to translating arguments that worked for surfaces into the free group setting; nevertheless, the overall ideas/strategies do translate!
