MATH Seminar

Title: Arithmetic of del Pezzo surfaces of degree 1
Colloquium: N16
Speaker: Tony Varilly of The University of California, Berkeley
Contact: Dwight Duffus, dwight@mathcs.emory.edu
Date: 2009-02-13 at 4:00PM
Venue: W306
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Abstract: I will discuss some of the driving questions in the area of Rational points on algebraic varieties (these can be thought of as solutions over fields of number-theoretic interest to systems of homogeneous polynomial equations). I will focus on the case of smooth rational surfaces, and discuss some results concerning the arithmetic of del Pezzo surfaces of degree 1. I will also explain how these results complete a qualitative picture of basic arithmetic phenomena among smooth rational surfaces. Along the way I will go over concepts like weak approximation and the computation of Brauer-Manin obstructions; I will not assume previous knowledge of them.