Three approaches to the rationality problem for cubic fourfolds

Seminar: 
Algebraic and Tropical Geometry
Event time: 
Thursday, September 12, 2013 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Location: 
431 DL
Speaker: 
Asher Auel
Speaker affiliation: 
Yale
Event description: 

Proving the irrationality of the general cubic fourfold is a major open problem. In this talk, I’ll discuss three approaches to this problem: using derived categories, unramified cohomology, and Hodge theory of surfaces. For each approach, I’ll describe recent advances and some work-in-progress.