Gravitational instantons, rational surfaces, and K3 surfaces

Fri Mar 4, 2022 2:00 p.m.—3:00 p.m.
Exterior of Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall featuring a stone carving of Yale's coat of arms and motto

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Seminar: 
Geometric Analysis and Application

Event time: 
Friday, March 4, 2022 - 2:00pm

Speaker: 
Jeff Viaclovsky

Speaker affiliation: 
University of California at Irvine

Event description: 
I will describe some examples of complete non-compact Ricci-flat metrics in dimension 4, which are called “gravitational instantons.” In many cases, these can be compactified complex analytically to rational surfaces. I will then discuss how these gravitational instantons can arise from sequences of degenerating Ricci-flat metrics on the compact K3 surface, through a process called “bubbling”.