Obstructing isotopy with an extra dimension

Abstract: In 1982, Livingston showed that several examples of Seifert surfaces that are not isotopic in the $3$-sphere become isotopic when pushed into the $4$-ball. This is consistent with a common intuition in topology: objects that are somehow similar should become the same when stabilized. We recently constructed families exhibiting that this is not always the case — that is, surfaces in the $3$-sphere that remain non-isotopic even when pushed into the $4$-ball. This is joint work with Kyle Hayden, Seungwon Kim, JungHwan Park, and Isaac Sundberg.

algebraic topologygeometric topologyK-theory and homology

Audience: researchers in the topic

Comments: Hybrid delivery (in person on University of Saskatchewan campus and via Zoom).

PIMS Geometry / Algebra / Physics (GAP) Seminar