Geometric Analysis Seminar

Anthony McCormick, Pure Mathematics, University of Waterloo

"Formality of Compact Kähler Manifolds"

A manifold is called formal if its de Rham algebra is isomorphic to a DGA with zero differential in the derived category of differential graded algebras. Formal manifolds are particularly nice since their real homotopy type (which is to the real numbers what the rational homotopy type is to the rationals) is completely determined by their cohomology, as opposed to merely being determined by the de Rham algebra. This can be seen via the so-called Massey triple-product. In this talk we will discuss the above in more detail and prove that compact Kähler manifolds are formal.