Michael Dougherty, Lafayette College
Event Date
2025-02-26
Event Time
02:30 pm ~ 03:30 pm
Event Location
Wachman 617
Abstract: In this talk, I will describe a new geometric and combinatorial structure for the space of complex polynomials with a fixed number of roots. In particular, I will define a metric on the space of monic polynomials with d distinct centered roots, and I will introduce a finite cell structure for the metric completion. Each cell in this complex is a product of two Euclidean simplices, and the combinatorial structure comes from the dual presentation for the d-strand braid group. In particular, this provides a concrete connection between two classifying spaces for the braid group. This is joint work with Jon McCammond.