Workshop

Stratified spaces occur naturally in high- and low-dimensional topology, various fields of pure mathematics, including algebraic geometry and number theory, and also in more applied fields, such as the study of configuration spaces for robot motion planning. In recent years, there has been extensive interest and success in expanding to stratified spaces the triumphs of algebraic topology in manifold theory, including the vast progress in the mid-20th century on signatures, characteristic classes, surgery theories, and the special homological properties of nonsingular analytic and algebraic varieties, such as the Kähler package. Yet such extensions from manifold theory to stratified space theory are rarely straightforward; they tend to involve the discovery and study of subtle interactions between local and global behavior. Furthermore, research in these areas turns out to have a rich interaction with the question being addressed by the Analysis of Singular Spaces program running simultaneously at MSRI of how to do analysis on spaces that are not locally Euclidean. The workshop will be organized into days dedicated to each of the four main themes: topology of complex varieties, signature theory on singular spaces, L^2 and intersection cohomology, and mixed Hodge theory and singularities. Each day except Wednesday will include one introductory talk aimed at audience members from both topology and analysis of singular spaces, and three research talks. There will also be room for some shorter talks by PhD students or recent graduates and for a few talks on Wednesday morning on related subjects that do not fit one of these categories. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Rose Garden Inn. Reservations may be made by calling 1-800-992-9005 OR directly on their website. Click on Corporate at the bottom of the screen and when prompted enter code MATH (this code is not case sensitive). By using this code a new calendar will appear and will show MSRI rate on all room types available. The cut-off date for reservations is August 22, 2008. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hotel Durant. Please mention the workshop name and reference the following code when making reservations via phone, fax or e-mail only: K00000. The cut-off date for reservations is August 8, 2008. Reservations can not be made on the website. Room Rate $159/ night.