Cube complexes have come to play an increasingly central role within geometric group theory, as their connection to right-angled Artin groups provides a powerful combinatorial bridge between geometry and algebra. This talk will introduce nonpositively curved cube complexes, and then describe the developments that have recently culminated in the resolution of the virtual Haken conjecture for 3-manifolds, and simultaneously dramatically extended our understanding of many infinite groups.
*Note that, as per the wishes of the speaker, this video can be seen only by viewers from India.
This colloquium is part of the Distinguished Lecture Series (DLS) organized by The (Indian) Mathematics Consortium (TMC), and co-hosted by IIT-B and ICTS-TIFR. For more information about this lecture series, and to register, please visit the homepage of the TMC DLS.