Mathematical Sciences Geometry/Topology Seminar

October 10:
Speaker: Indira Chatterji (Cornell University)
Title: On the Bass conjecture.
Abstract: In this talk we will discuss the Bass conjecture and explain why it can be seen as the non-torsion-free analogue of the idempotent conjecture, which is that the idempotents in the group ring of a torsion-free group should be 0 or 1. We will discuss a class of groups arising from geometry and for which the Bass conjecture holds, as well as some ingredients needed for the proof. This is a joint work with J. Berrick and G. Mislin.