Using discrete ideas in algebraic geometry

Ravi Vakil
Stanford University
Mathematics

Although the workshop is about figuring out how to use algebraic-geometric tools to approach combinatorial problems, I will discuss how to use discrete tools to approach problems in algebraic geometry, and this might suggest how information could flow in the opposite direction too. Most likely I will talk about how configurations of points and lines in the plane can tell us that moduli spaces can be arbitrarily singular ("Murphy's Law" in algebraic geometry). But I may touch on some other themes as well.


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