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SUMMARY:Functions with no critical points - Oscar Randal-Williams (Cambrid
 ge) 
DTSTART:20241010T150000Z
DTEND:20241010T160000Z
UID:TALK221314@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:HoD Secretary\, DPMMS
DESCRIPTION:The critical points of a generic smooth function on a manifold
 \, perhaps satisfying boundary conditions\, are closely related to the top
 ology of the manifold. Some manifolds however (e.g. M x [0\,1]) admit smoo
 th functions with no critical points (e.g. projection to the second factor
 ). In this case it is a central problem in the study of diffeomorphism gro
 ups to understanding the topology of the space of all such functions. I wi
 ll explain some older and more recent approaches to this problem\, and the
  surprising connections it has with other mathematical objects.\n\nThe tal
 k will be followed by a wine reception in the central core. 
LOCATION:CMS MR2
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