LiT IV Landing in Topology

Bestvina–Brady Morse Theory, Finiteness Properties, and Algebraic Fibring

12 Oct 2026, 09:30

1h

Aula Dini (Palazzo del Castelletto)

Speaker

Giovanni Italiano (University of Oxford)

Description

Bestvina–Brady Morse theory, introduced in the 1990s, has become a central tool in geometric group theory. It provides a topological framework for studying homomorphisms from a group G to Z, using Morse theoretic ideas on spaces on which G acts.
We will review the basic mechanism of the theory and its role in detecting finiteness properties of kernels. We will then focus on applications, with particular emphasis on algebraic fibring and its relationship with topological fibrations.