Postdoc position in Oslo (topology including motivic homotopy theory)

Application deadline 3 May. Quoting from the ALG-TOP mailing list:

Dear Topologists

There is a vacant position as postdoctoral fellow for 2 years from September 2013 within the project “Topology in Norway”.

The project is a cooperation between research groups at the University of Bergen, the University of Oslo, and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. See  http://www.jobbnorge.no/job.aspx?jobid=92733 for more details (there  is a link to the english version in the upper right corner).

The application procedure is fully electronic via the above website.

Closing date for application: 3 May 2013

The aim of this postdoctoral project is to perform research and aid in the supervision of graduate students within the program “Topology in Norway”. The successful candidate will join one of the teams working on various aspects of algebraic topology, including stable homotopy theory, manifold topology, algebraic K-theory, and motivic homotopy theory. For more information about the aims and scope of this program, see the link to “Project description” on http://www.uib.no/People/csc021/TiN.html

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Best wishes,

Christian Schlichtkrull

I removed Christian’s email address, but it can be found here.

Postdoc position in motivic homotopy theory in Regensburg

The following was posted a month ago to the ALG-TOP mailing list. I haven’t been able to find an application deadline online.

Dear Topologists,this is to invite applications for a

3+3 years PostDoc position at the University of Regensburg,

to be filled by November 1st, 2013 or thereafter.
We are seeking to hire a candidate with a strong research record
in (motivic) homotopy theory or a closely related area.
Teaching duties and salary are competitive.
An exact copy of the position to be filled is currently held by David Gepner, who
kindly agreed to provide further information upon request:

[Email address removed, see Gepner's webpage]

Obviously, you are equally welcome to turn directly to me with any questions, or
to send an electronic application:

[Email address removed, see Naumann's webpage]

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Kind regards,

Niko Naumann

Two new blogs: DZB and Chromotopy

Just wanted to recommend two blogs that I discovered quite recently. One is DZB’s blog, where I learnt about the really cool Database of L-functions, modular forms, and related objects. The other one is Chromotopy, where I particularly enjoy the posts of Eric Peterson. A few sample posts from Eric: Iwasawa theory for chromatic localizations, a series of posts on the Devinatz-Hopkins-Smith paper, and Bundles for adults.

Grothendieck anagram

Looking back on the mathematical year 2012, the most exciting thing happening was probably Mochizuki‘s work on the abc conjecture. Something I had hoped to see during 2012, was the writings of Grothendieck, restored to the Grothendieck circle website. Sadly, this has not happened, as Grothendieck himself apparently is opposed to it. However, it is not clear (to an outsider) if he is opposed to having a website dedicated to his memory and/or publishers making money out of his writings, or if he is actually opposed to his hardcore algebraic geometry texts being made available for free to interested mathematicians. Looking carefully at the name Alexander Grothendieck, one observes that permuting the letters yields the sentence “Hardcore EGA, extend link!”. Although not a decisive argument in the moral/legal debate over Grothendieck’s letter, perhaps it means something

One a similar note, the sentence “hi’ risk abstract banana hack” is an anagram of “Banach-Tarski”, while “Plain Anarchy Got Us! Shriek! Ahhh!!” is an anagram of “Hartshorne playing shakuhachi”.

Finally, a little anagram puzzle for those of you who need a small recreational break (can also be used as homework for students you for some reason do not like). Let n be a positive integer, and let S be the set of integers between zero and n (inclusive). Let N be the number of anagrams expressing valid arithmetic equalities between elements in the set S. Example: Twelve plus one = eleven plus two. Try to compute N for small values of n. Do you see a pattern? How does N grow with n? What happens if you replace the word “integer” with the word “rational number with bounded height”?

Happy New Year 2013!

A long list of postdoc opportunities

Having been through the process of finding and applying for postdoc positions in Europe over the last couple of years, here is now the big list that I wished someone had given me a few years ago.

Video lectures on Fundamental groups, non-abelian cohomology, and diophantine geometry, by Minhyong Kim

These lectures were delivered in February 2012 at IHES.

Some of the same content can be found in documents on Kim’s webpage, under Expository Essays.

London workshop on arithmetic geometry and homotopy theory

At Imperial College London, from May 30th to June 1st. Many interesting talks, but the main theme appears to be the recent work of Harpaz and Schlank in which they use etale homotopy theory to study rational points and in particular obstructions to the local-global principle. Their big preprint is available here.

Related to this theme there is also a longer summer course in Lausanne in July/August with lectures by Harpaz and Schlank, as part of the of the EPFL program on rational points and algebraic cycles.

Postdoc position in Milano

From an email by Luca Barbieri-Viale:

There are post-doc positions “assegno di ricerca” here in Milano for 2 years (up to 4 after renewal). The best research projects among several subjects will be selected. One subject is “Arithmetic geometry, motives and homotopy theory of schemes”. Description: “Comparison theorems for cohomology theories. Motivic cohomology and its applications in arithmetic geometry. Galois representations, modular forms and families. Applications to the study of varieties and motives over local and global fields.”

Deadline for application February 15, 2012.
See this web page for more info and how to apply.

Polymath in a TED talk

Michael Nielsen’s TED talk Open Science Now! from earlier this year was recently posted on the TED site. For people already interested in these things it doesn’t contain any surprises, but the ideas are certainly worth spreading, and the Polymath project features as the opening story

Lecture notes on perfectoid spaces

Today Peter Scholze finished his IHES lecture series on perfectoid spaces and the weight-monodromy conjecture. The complete lecture notes are now available on his webpage, and video will probably become available here.