• CARMA COLLOQUIUM
  • Speaker: Finnur Larusson, The University of Adelaide
  • Title: The rough shape of spaces of soap films
  • Location: Room V205, Mathematics Building (Callaghan Campus) The University of Newcastle
  • Time and Date: 4:00 pm, Tue, 20th Jun 2017
  • Abstract:

    The theory of minimal surfaces (a.k.a. soap films) goes back to Euler’s discovery in 1741 that the catenoid is area-minimising. It is still a remarkably vibrant area of research. I will describe recent joint work with Franc Forstneric of the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. We assemble all minimal surfaces with a given shape into a space. It is an infinite-dimensional space. What does it look like? We have been able to determine its "rough shape". I will explain what we mean by "rough shape" and describe the ingredients from complex analysis, differential topology, and homotopy theory that go into our result.


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