Special Colloquium
Jeffrey Danciger
University of Texas, Austin
Moduli spaces of constant curvature spacetimes
Abstract: A Margulis spacetime is the quotient of three-dimensional space by a
free group of affine transformations acting properly discontinuously.
Each of these manifolds is equipped with a flat Lorentzian metric
compatible with the affine structure. I will survey some recent results,
joint with Francois Gueritaud and Fanny Kassel, about the geometry,
topology, and deformation theory of these flat spacetimes. In
particular, we give a parameterization of the moduli space in the same
spirit as Penner's cell decomposition of the decorated Teichmuller space
of a punctured surface. I will also discuss connections with the
negative curvature (anti de Sitter) setting.
After the Colloquium there will be a Meet and Greet Tea at 4:15 in SEO 300.
Wednesday January 15, 2014 at 3:00 PM in SEO 636