Abstract: Abstract: In their foundational 2012 paper, David Gay and Robion Kirby showed that four-dimensional smooth manifolds can be studied via decompositions called trisections. A trisection is a decomposition of a four-dimensional object into three pieces, each of which is as simple as possible. Since its inception, the theory of trisections has developed and expanded in a number of ways. In this talk, I'll give a gentle introduction to this theory, highlighting emerging techniques in the area and giving many examples along the way. This talk should be accessible for beginning graduate students.
This is colloquium is also part of the Redbud topology conference: http://math.okstate.edu/conferences/redbud/
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