Towards a reduced theory of hermitian forms

Speaker: Dr. Thomas Unger (UCD)

Time: 3:00PM

Date: Wed 24th September 2008

Location: Mathematical Sciences Seminar Room

Abstract
The image of the total signature map from the Witt ring W(F) of a field F to C(X_F,Z), the ring of continuous functions from the space of orderings X_F of F to the integers Z, is called the reduced Witt ring of F. Its study is called the reduced theory of quadratic forms. I will discuss a new approach towards developing a reduced theory of hermitian forms over (D,*), where D is a division algebra over F and * is an involution on D (This is joint work with Vincent Astier).

(This talk is part of the K-Theory, Quadratic Forms and Number Theory series.)