Fall 2005 learning seminar on motives

This semester we are having a learning seminar on motives. We are using the book Une introduction aux motifs (motifs purs, motifs mixtes, périodes) by Yves André particularly to give us organizational structure. Here are some notes by Sachin Gautam, one of our participants, containing some useful background on homological algebra.

We meet Wednesdays 12-1 and 2-3 in MCS 180. Feel free to join us be you faculty or student, from BU or Northeastern or anywhere else.

Sept 14

• Karen Yeats, "Review of Schemes and Varieties" (notes by Sachin Gautam)
• Rob Pollack, "Profinite and Galois Groups"

Sept 21

• Obi Rej, "Tannakian Categories"
• Sachin Gautam, "Sheaf cohomology"

Sept 28

• Tomoo Matsumura, "Algebraic de Rham cohomology". Reference: Jay Pottharst's notes.
• Karen Acquista, "Galois cohomology"

Oct 5

• Karen Acquista, "Étale cohomology"
• Karen Yeats, "Algebraic cycles", following chapter 3 of André's book.

Oct 12

• Obi Rej, "Weil cohomology"
• no second hour so that people can go hear Rob Pollack speak in the Harvard number theory seminar

Oct 19

no seminar; between the Fields institute and Deligne's birthday too many of us are away

Oct 26

• David Fried, "Side view of pure motives"
• Marc Levine, "Overview of motives". Marc Levine has written many good references; especially relevant for us is his expository article on mixed motives.

Nov 2

the first hour will be in MCS 153 instead of the usual room

• Karen Acquista, "All things étale"
• Sachin Gautam, "The standard conjectures"

Nov 9

the first hour will be in MCS 153 instead of the usual room

• Jeehoon Park, "Étale fundamental group"
• Obi Rej, "Intro to motivic Galois groups"

Nov 16

• David Rohrlich, "Motivic Galois groups"
• Sachin Gautam, "Intro to mixed motives"

Nov 23

no seminar; Thanksgiving break

Nov 30

• Obi Rej, "Bloch-Ogus cohomology"
• Karen Yeats, "Periods and Motives"

Dec 7

• Rob Pollack, "Motives in number theory"
• Dirk Kreimer, "Motives in quantum field theory"