Department of Mathematics Colloquium

University of Idaho

Spring 2013

Thursday,  February 21, 3:30-4:20 pm, room TLC 046

Refreshments in Brink 305 at 3:00 pm

Measures of Singularities:
Characteristic 0 versus Characteristic p

 

Lance Miller

Department of Mathematics

University of Utah



Abstract

The polynomials y^2 ‐ x, y^2 ‐ x^3, y^2 ‐ x^2(x+1), and y^3 ‐ (x^2 + y^2)^2 + 3x^2y all define plane curves. Of these, the last three are singular at (0,0). Is one 'more singular' than another? In this talk we discuss some classic techniques of assigning a numerical measure to singularities and how those measures behave under reduction to positive characteristic.