Mini-Course on Cobordism Theory

Time:

Venue/Location: Room B.102, Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (VIASM), 161 Huynh Thuc Khang Street, Hanoi

Objective: The notion of cobordism originates from the work of R. Thom and L. Pontrjagin in the 1950s, and has since been an important aspect of homotopy theory. In this minicourse, we aim to give a detailed introduction to cobordism theory, or more broadly, to the study of generalized cohomology theories. The first half of the minicourse is devoted to the theory of unoriented cobordism and characteristic classes, which can be applied to answer various questions, including Steenrod’s realization problem. The second half of the minicourse focuses on the generalities of complex oriented cohomology theory, and its surprising connection to formal group laws. The purely algebraic aspect of formal group laws helps us extract and analyze the characteristics of cohomology theories in greater detail.

References: The talks are based on the material in the first two chapters of Haynes Miller’s Notes on Cobordism (2001). The notes Chromatic Homotopy Theory by Lurie (2010) is also a good source on complex oriented cohomology theory. For further investigation, some classical textbooks are Adam’s Blue Book (Stable Homotopy and Generalised Homology), and Cohomology Operations and Applications in Homotopy Theory (Mosher and Tangora).

Speakers: 

• Le Xuan Hoang, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi
• Pham Van Tuan, University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi
• Dang Hai Dang, Shanghai Institute for Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Sciences (SIMIS), China

Organizer:

Vietnam Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics (VIASM)

Expected participants: Undergraduate and Graduate Students, Applied Math & Computer Science Research Group.

Format: In person

Language: English

Registration:

Registration: Here

Registration is free but compulsory. 

Deadline: July 05, 2026

Contact: Ms. Tran Thuy Linh (VIASM), ttlinh@viasm.edu.vn