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Toward a PL Theory of Higher Index Minimal Surfaces.
Geometry/Topology| Speaker: | David Bachman, UT Austin |
| Location: | 693 Kerr |
| Start time: | Wed, Jan 20 1999, 4:10PM |
In this talk I will give a complete description of the theory of Index 1 PL minimal surfaces (i.e. almost normal), including applications to problems involving Dehn surgery, Heegaard splittings, and bridge position for knots. I will then go on to describe a recent approach to the theory of Index 2 PL minimal surfaces, which may be the key to unlocking some unanswered algorithmic questions concerning the Topology of 3-manifolds. This latter work is joint with H. Rubinstein and M. Scharlemann.