Seminar: Symplectic geometry of Stein and Weinstein Manifolds, Wintersemester 2025-26

General information

Instructor: Prof. Chris Wendl (for contact information and office hours see my homepage)

Moodle: Everyone who attends the seminar should join the moodle at https://moodle.hu-berlin.de/course/view.php?id=138256 in order to receive occasional time-sensitive announcements. The enrollment key is: handles
(Note: If you do not have a HU computer account, it is also possible to join the moodle using a non-HU e-mail address, it just requires a few extra clicks.)

Time and place: Fridays 9:15-10:45 in room 1.114 (Rudower Chaussee 25)

Language: The seminar will be conducted in English.

Prerequisites: The main target audience for this seminar is Masters students with a solid background in the theory of smooth manifolds (as in Differential Geometry I) and basic topology (Topology I; some knowledge of Topology II may also be helpful, but you can get by without it). Some previous exposure to symplectic geometry would be helpful, but the essentials of that subject will also be covered in one of the early talks.

The subject: See this seminar plan for a more detailed summary of what the subject is about and a week-by-week outline of topics.

Requirements: All (students and otherwise) are welcome to attend the seminar and may volunteer to give talks, though priority will be given to students who need credit for the seminar. For students to receive credit, the requirements are the following:

1. Give at least one of the talks, with careful attention to fitting all necessary material within the given time constraints;
2. Submit clearly readable notes for your talk (you are welcome to TeX them, but handwritten notes are also fine), so that they can be scanned and uploaded to this website by the following Monday;
3. Attend the seminar regularly (at most three absences in the semester, barring exceptional circumstances).

Werbung: If this subject interests you and you'd also like to learn something about Morse theory in the more general context of differential topology (with an eye toward its inspiration for Floer homology), Klaus Mohnke and David Suchodoll are also running a seminar on Morse theory this semester (the enrolment key for the moodle is Morsecomplex)

Before you volunteer to give one of the talks, you should look at the detailed seminar plan for more information and suggestions about each of the topics.