Schafer-Rosenberg RIT on differential and algebraic topology

Subject:

This year's RIT topic will be Chern-Weil theory, characteristic classes, Chern-Simons theory, and secondary characteristic classes. It replaces last year's RIT on classification of homotopy spheres and the RIT from the year before on non-commutative geometry and L²-cohomology.

References to get started:

Johan Dupont, Curvature and characteristic classes, Lecture Notes in Math., vol. 640, Springer, 1978. We will put a copy on reserve in the library.
Shiing-Shen Chern and James Simons, Some Cohomology Classes in Principal Fiber Bundles and their Application to Riemannian Geometry, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 68, No. 4. (Apr., 1971), pp. 791-794.
Shiing-Shen Chern and James Simons, Characteristic Forms and Geometric Invariants, Annals of Mathematics, 2nd Ser., Vol. 99, No. 1 (Jan., 1974), pp. 48-69.

Meetings:

Meetings for Fall 2004 will be held Tuesday afternoons at 2:00 PM, starting September 14, 2004. Effective September 21, the room number is MTH 1311. Meetings for Spring 2005 will be held Friday afternoons at 2:00 PM in room MTH 2300, starting February 18, 2005. We expect participating students to take turns presenting the material; the faculty advisers will be available to help and to explain the tricky points.

Faculty Advisers:

James Schafer, room 2112 (phone 55164); Jonathan Rosenberg, room 2114 (phone 55166) or 1106 (phone 55059)

Possible Undergraduate Projects:

Please inquire with the directors.