Dr. Sam Gunningham (Dept. of Mathematical Sciences, MSU)

10/18/21  4:10pm

Abstract:  In the last few decades, mathematicians and physicists have been exploring a mysterious connection between a form of electric magnetic duality in physics and the Langlands program in number theory. These connections are rooted in deep analogies between number fields, finite algebraic curves, and 3-dimensional manifolds. In the talk, I will give an informal overview of some of these ideas and the resulting mathematics. Time permitting, I will discuss some of my work on the topological side (joint with David Ben-Zvi, David Jordan, and Pavel Safronov). No prior familiarity with these topics is expected or required!