2/24/2011

Fred Cohen
University of Rochester and IAS

On spaces of homomorphisms and spaces of representations

The subject of this talk is the structure of the space of homomorphisms from a group \pi to a Lie group G denoted Hom(\pi,G). The space of representations Hom(\pi,G)/G obtained from the adjoint action of G will be considered. In special cases, these spaces can be assembled into a single space analogous to the classifying space of the group G. Properties of these spaces will be developed. This talk is based on joint work with A. Adem, E. Torres, and J. Gomez.