Talks

Motivated by the question about reconstructing a Conformal field theory from the data of a subfactor of finite index, Jones studied the continuous limit of the periodic quantum spin chain which Thompson group acts on. Based on planar algebras, the topological axiomatization of subfactors, we will illustrate the idea of the correspondence between the skein theory of planar algebras and presentation of Thompson groups.

The affine Grassmannian is the analog of the Grassmannian for the loop group. They are very important objects in mathematical physics and the Geometric Langlands program. In this talk, I will explain my recent work on the central degeneration of semi-infinite orbits, Iwahori orbits and Mirkovic-Vilonen cycles in the affine Grassmannian. I will also use lots of convex polytopes to illustrate my results. In addition, I will explain the connections between my work and other parts of geometric representation theory and combinatorial algebraic geometry.