Professor David Leep (University of Kentucky)

will speak on

The u-invariant of p-adic function fields

Time: 4:15PM
Date: Mon 10th May 2010
Location: Mathematical Sciences Seminar Room [map]

Abstract: The u-invariant of a field F is the smallest integer N such that every quadratic form defined over F in more than N variables has a nontrivial zero defined over F. The u-invariant has been calculated for many familiar fields such as algebraically closed fields, finite fields, p-adic fields, number fields, and power series fields over these fields. The u-invariant has also been
calculated for function fields over algebraically closed fields and finite fields.

Computing the u-invariant of a function field defined over a p-adic field has only recently been solved. This talk will give the computation of the
u-invariant over p-adic function fields. We will discuss the history and background to this result.

[Please note the later starting time of 4.15pm.]

(This talk is part of the Algebra and Number Theory series.)

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