Speaker:  Ed Swartz
Title:   The Charney-Davis conjecture.
Time: 4:30 PM, Monday, February 11, 2008
Place:  Malott 205

Abstract:  While studying  Hopf's conjecture on the sign of the Euler characteristic  for cubical complexes with non positive curvature, Charney and Davis were led to a purely combinatorical problem concerning the face  numbers of flag triangulations of spheres.  We will trace the connection between the two conjectures and what progress has been made toward their resolution.   The talk will not assume any specialized background and will be appropriate for graduate students.
All needed background will be given.

February 15, 2008