Speaker
Chris Bowman
Description
We introduce the idea of a "modular representation'' of a group and discuss how the structure of these modular representations can be encapsulated within a remarkable family of polynomials, defined by Kazhdan and Lusztig in the 1980s. Many properties of these polynomials have remained mysterious for over forty years \dots we will spill the tea on how Elias--Williamson’s diagrammatic algebras can be used to enrich our understanding of these polynomials. Time allowing, we might discuss the applications in knot theory, statistical mechanics and elsewhere.