Graduate Student Colloquium
Stephen Smith
University of Illinois at Chicago
Quasithin groups and the classification of the finite simple groups
Abstract: Abstract:
The classification of the finite simple groups was a project
that involved hundreds of mathematicians and thousands of
journal pages. It appeared to be complete by about 1981---except
for the non-publication by Mason of his work on quasithin groups.
The situation was finally fixed by Aschbacher and Smith in 2004
with the publication of their 2-volume work on the quasithin problem.
The talk will be at an expository level, introducing the simple
groups, along with the place of the quasithin groups in the
overall classification.
I will also mention at the end a more recently begun project
(joint with Aschbacher, Lyons, and Solomon) to provide
a detailed "outline" of the classification---with some new
insights and connections that may illuminate future work.
(I will continue this latter theme in my algebra seminar talk
on Feb 25, which will also be at an expository level)
Friday February 22, 2008 at 3:00 PM in SEO 636