Marco Golla
Knots, polynomials and categorification
Knot theory is a rich and beautiful topic in low-dimensional topology that lends itself to an almost purely combinatorial approach.
In this talk I'll start with the very basic definition of a knot, and will discuss several invariants defined in terms of knot diagrams, focusing on the Alexander polynomial and its categorification, knot Floer homology.
No background in topology is assumed.