Talk #1 (1:00pm–2:30pm)
Lucia
Martin
Merchan,
University
of
Waterloo
“A
compact
closed
G2
manifold
with
b1
=
0”
The
presence
of
a
G2-holonomy
metric
on
a
7-dimensional
manifold
yields
a
closed
G2
structure,
and
some
topological
properties,
such
as
b1
=
0.
However,
there
aren’t
examples
of
manifolds
with
a
closed
G2
structure
satisfying
these
topological
properties
that
do
not
admit
a
metric
with
holonomy
G2.
In
this
talk,
we
construct
a
compact
closed
G2
manifold
with
b1
=
0
using
orbifold
resolution
techniques.
Later,
we
compare
it
with
the
already-known
manifolds
with
holonomy
G2.
Talk
#2
(2:30pm–4:00pm)
Michael
Albanese,
University
of
Waterloo
“Enlargeable
Manifolds
and
Positive
Scalar
Curvature”
In
the
late
70’s,
the
question
of
whether
tori
could
admit
metrics
of
positive
scalar
curvature
was
being
tackled
by
Gromov
and
Lawson,
and
independently
by
Schoen
and
Yau.
The
former
duo
developed
the
notion
of
enlargeability
to
settle
the
question
in
the
negative.
In
this
talk
I
will
define
enlargeability
and
indicate
its
relationship
to
the
existence
of
positive
scalar
curvature
metrics.
MC 5403