Honorary doctorate lecture

Title: Spaces of graphs.

Speaker: Karen Vogtmann

Abstract: Finite metric graphs are used to describe many phenomena in mathematics and science. There is a natural way to topologise the set of graphs which can occur in a particular context; the resulting space is called a moduli space of graphs. Moduli spaces of graphs with a fixed number of loops and leaves often have interesting topology that is not at all well understood.  For example Euler characteristic calculations indicate that as the number of loops grows a huge number of nontrivial homology classes appear, but only very few have actually been found.  I will discuss what is currently known about the structure of these moduli spaces, including recent progress on the hunt for homology.

Karen Vogtmann will receive a Honorary Doctorate at the Annual Commemoration of the University of Copenhagen on November 17. The lecture will be followed by a reception in front of Auditorium 1.