EVENT DETAILS AND ABSTRACT

Title: Words, words, words
Speaker: Nir Avni
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Abstract:

A word is an element of a free group. For any word w in the free group on k generators and any group G there is a map G^k-->G defined by substitution. These word maps are the analogs of polynomial maps in the category of groups. I will talk about the images of word maps in arithmetic groups, and then segue into the model theory of arithmetic groups, ending with a new rigidity phenomenon for them. The non-survey parts of this talk are joint works with Alex Lubotzky and Chen Meiri.