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                   Thursday March 22, 2012 
                    Stewart Library 
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                   2:00-3:00pm 
                  Pantelis E. Eleftheriou, University of Waterloo 
                    Definable quotients of locally definable groups 
                    A locally definable group in an o-minimal structure is 
                    a group whose domain is a countable union of definable sets 
                    U_i and whose multiplication is definable when restricted 
                    to each U_i x U_j. An important example is the universal cover 
                    of a definable group. In recent work with Y. Peterzil, we 
                    examined the following converse: 
                    Conjecture. Let U be a connected abelian locally definable 
                    group which is generated by a definable set. Then U is the 
                    cover of some definable group. 
                  We will report progress on this conjecture, mentioning joint 
                    work with Y. Peterzil, as well as work by other authors. 
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                  3:30-4:30pm 
                  Martin Bays, McMaster University 
                    Abelian integrals and categoricity 
                    An integral of the form $\Int_{P_0}^P f(x,y)dx$, where 
                    $f$ is a rational function and $x$ and $y$ satisfy a polynomial 
                    dependence $p(x,y)=0$, is known as an Abelian integral. Fixing 
                    one endpoint $P_0$ and allowing the other to vary on the Riemann 
                    surface $p(x,y)=0$, we obtain a multifunction whose value 
                    depends on the (homology class of) the path along which we 
                    integrate. 
                  We consider the model-theoretic status of such multifunctions, 
                    and in particular the problem of giving categorical elementary 
                    descriptions of structures incorporating them and their interactions 
                    with the complex field. Following work by Zilber and Gavrilovich, 
                    we will find that the classical theory of Abelian varieties, 
                    along with Faltings' work and some model theoretic ideas due 
                    to Shelah, allow us to give partially satisfactory answers 
                    in some special cases. 
                   
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                   August 29, 2011 
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                Martin Bays, McMaster 
                  Some definability results in abstract Kummer theory 
                  Classically, Kummer theory for a commutative algebraic group 
                  reduces Galois theoretic properties of points of the group to 
                  "linear", group theoretic properties. We observe that 
                  a geometric part of this theory goes through in arbitrary commutative 
                  groups of finite Morley Rank, and deduce from the proof a useful 
                  definability property in the original case of algebraic groups. 
                  (This is joint work with Misha Gavrilovich and Martin Hils.) 
                  Anand Pillay, University of Leeds  
                    Nash groups 
                    The category of Nash manifolds lies in between the real 
                    algebraic and real analytic categories. I revisit the category 
                    of Nash groups, giving a correct account of the virtual algebraicity 
                    of affine Nash groups, a generalization to real closed fields 
                    as well as some new examples of nonaffine Nash groups. (Joint 
                    with E. Hrushovski.) 
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                | June 30, 2011 | 
                 
                   Chris Miller 
                    Oscillatory trajectories, Minkowski dimension and definability. 
                    In recent joint work with A. Fornasiero and P. Hieronymi, 
                    we showed that an expansion of the real field (in the sense 
                    of model theory) avoids defining the set of all integers if 
                    and only if every compact definable subset of the line has 
                    either nonempty interior or Minkowski dimension zero. I will 
                    give an outline of the proof, and discuss consequences for 
                    expansions of the real field by oscillatory trajectories of 
                    planar vector fields. 
                   
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