3.30-4.30 p.m., Seminar Hall
R.K. Rubugunday Distinguished Lecture
Automorphism groups in algebraic geometry
Michel Brion
Institut Fourier, Grenoble, France.
20-01-16

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Abstract

The talk will first present some classical results on automorphisms of complex projective curves, or compact Riemann surfaces. We will then discuss automorphisms of projective algebraic varieties of higher dimensions. In this setting, the structure of the automorphism group presents many open questions: for example, the connected components of this group form a discrete group, on which almost nothing is known. In contrast, the connected component of the identity may be any prescribed connected algebraic group.