Math 7853: Topics in geometric group theory


Instructor: Mladen Bestvina
Office: JWB 210
Office hours: TBD or by appointment
Meets: MWF 2-2:50 on zoom

This will be an introductory course in geometric group theory. I will assume the material in qual classes (particularly algebraic topology) but not much else (well, familiarity with the hyperbolic plane). Tentatively I plan to cover the following topics:

  1. Bass-Serre theory of groups acting on trees.
  2. Ends of groups and the Stallings theorem.
  3. JSJ decompositions of groups.
  4. Hyperbolic groups and spaces.
  5. CAT(0) spaces, Cartan-Hadamard.
  6. Coxeter groups. 

There may be some more advanced topics at the end of the semester.

I will periodically assign homework, which will be optional.

Stallings seminar: All students in the class are expected to participate in the Stallings seminar and present a lecture related to the class.

You can contact me by email.

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