Seminar

Seminar Description: To build bridges, and to prepare for the conference in late March, we've decided to hold an informal seminar on spectra and stable homotopy theory. The idea is to introduce algebraic geometers and arithmetic geometers to the ideas of the field in an accessible way, and at least the first few talks will be aimed at a graduate student level. We anticipate some questions will arise. (How is Frobenius viewed as a stable homotopy phenomenon? What can spectra do that abelian groups and chain complexes can't? I don't know how far we'll get in answering such questions this semester, but the idea is to at least start off slow and make spectra seem accessible to members of our partner program. 

For the first talk, Hiro will give one definition of what a spectrum is. (Ring spectra have to come later.) The only assumption is that the audience is comfortable with chain complexes. The goal will be to show (by building on the Dold-Kan correspondence) that every chain complex gives rise to an example of a spectrum.