Xingzhe Li

Ma 157 abc. Topics in Geometry and Topology. 9 units (3-0-6); first, second terms, 2026-27. Prerequisites: Ma 151 or equivalent, or instructor's permission. Part a: Characteristic classes. Stiefel--Whitney classes, Chern classes, Pontryagin classes, cobordism theory, Chern--Weil theory. Part b and c: Basic topics may vary from year to year and may include elements of Morse theory and the calculus of variations, locally symmetric spaces, special geometry, comparison theorems, relation between curvature and topology, metric functionals and flows, geometry in low dimensions. Part c not offered 2026-27.
Instructor: X. Li