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Summer Graduate School

Min-max methods in geometry (UC Berkeley) June 21, 2027 - July 02, 2027
Parent Program: --
Location: UC Berkeley
Organizers Otis Chodosh (Stanford University), Giada Franz (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)), Daniel Ketover (Rutgers University), Yevgeny Liokumovich (University of Toronto)
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Description
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The course will introduce graduate students to the many modern methods to construct minimal surfaces from a variational or min-max principle as well as applications to problems in geometry and topology. Topics include Almgren-Pitts min max theory, Allen-Cahn construction and PDE methods, the proof of the Willmore conjecture, the resolution of Yau’s conjecture on the infinitude of minimal hypersurfaces in general Riemannnian manifolds and corresponding Weyl law and equidistribution results.

School Structure

The program will feature two mini-courses:  

Week 1: Minimal surfaces and min-max theory: basic constructions, techniques and applications (lectures by Daniel Ketover and Giada Franz)

Week 2: Further techniques and applications (lectures by Yevgeny Liokumovich and Otis Chodosh)

The problem and research discussions will be informal, interactive and focus on exercises from the lectures, examples, as well as expanding on any material only cursorily covered.

Prerequisites

Elliptic PDE (any standard graduate first course) and basic Riemannian geometry (at the level of Do Carmo’s graduate text).

Application Procedure

For eligibility and how to apply, see the Summer Graduate Schools homepage.

Keywords and Mathematics Subject Classification (MSC)
Tags/Keywords
  • minimal surfaces

  • min-max theory

  • Allen-Cahn

  • interfaces

  • Almgren- Pitts

  • variational methods

Primary Mathematics Subject Classification
Secondary Mathematics Subject Classification
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