Date: Friday 1 April 2011, 4:30pm
Location: Millersville University, Wickersham Hall Room 101
 Speaker: Dusa McDuff, Columbia
   Title: Symplectic embeddings and continued fractions

Abstract. As has been known since the time of Gromov's
Nonsqueezing Theorem, symplectic embedding questions lie at the heart of
symplectic geometry. After a short introduction to symplectic geometry,
we will discuss some recent developments concerning the question of when
a 4-dimensional ellipsoid can be symplectically embedded in a ball.
This problem turns out to have unexpected relations to the properties of
continued fractions.

The talk aims to be accessible to people who know nothing about
symplectic geometry.