Zygotop seminar

We are an informal pedagogical seminar concerning algebraic topology and homotopy theory, localized at Harvard and MIT. Unless otherwise specified, talks will proceed on Wednesdays at 4:30pm ET, located in SC 412, and following a topic chosen by the speaker, organized according to these principles.

This seminar is organized by Keita Allen, who you should email with questions or to be added to the signal group chat. Click here to add this seminar to your google calendar.

• • Apr 23 2025

  K-theoretic interpretations of the Alexander polynomial

  Yonghwan Kim

  The Alexander polynomial is one of the earliest knot invariants that was discovered. Later, Milnor provided an interpretation of the Alexander polynomial for fibered knots as a Lefschetz zeta function associated with the infinite cyclic cover of the knot complement. More recently, Malkiewich and Klein revisited this perspective and extended it to higher algebraic K-theory, introducing the notion of endomorphism torsion. In this talk, I will give an exposition of their work, aiming to provide insight into this modern viewpoint on classical invariants.

• • Apr 30 2025

  TBA

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