3.30 pm, Seminar Hall PolyMath14: Groups with norms Apoorva Khare Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. 17-04-19 Abstract Consider the following three properties of a general group G: (1) Algebra: G is abelian and torsion-free. (2) Analysis: G is a metric space that admits a "norm", namely, a translation-invariant metric d(.,.) satisfying: d(1,g^n) = |n| d(1,g) for all g in G and integers n. (3) Geometry: G admits a length function with "saturated" subadditivity for equal arguments: l(g^2) = 2 l(g) for all g in G. While these properties may a priori seem different, in fact they turn out to be equivalent. The nontrivial implication amounts to saying that there does not exist a non-abelian group with a "norm". We will discuss motivations from analysis, probability, and geometry; then the proof of the above equivalences; and finally, the logistics of how the problem was solved, via a PolyMath project that began on a blogpost of Terence Tao. (Joint - as D.H.J. PolyMath - with Tobias Fritz, Siddhartha Gadgil, Pace Nielsen, Lior Silberman, and Terence Tao.)
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