SEMINAR: Groups and Combinatorics Seminar, Tits' buildings as combinatorial objects

Alice Devillers (UWA)

will speak on

Tits' buildings as combinatorial objects

at 3pm Friday 28 November in Mathematics Lecture Room 1.

Abstract:

Buildings were invented in the 1960s by the Belgian-French mathematician Jacques Tits. They are a useful tool to "visualise" algebraic groups (such as classical and exceptional Lie groups). The simplest examples are the projective spaces. Other examples include polar spaces, generalised polygons, infinite trees. I will give a general introduction to the concept of buildings, from several points of view, with special emphasis on the chamber system point of view, which is very combinatorial. I will then illustrate how that combinatorial structure can be used to show results that apply to many different types of buildings at once.