Abstract Sönke Rollenske

Sönke Rollenske will speak on

Geometry and classification of stable surfaces

Abstract: Stable surfaces are the two-dimensional analog of stable curves: they are the singular surfaces that one needs to add to get a modular compactification of the Giesecker moduli space of (canonical models of) surfaces of general type. While both the geometry of one stable curve and the geometry of the whole moduli space of stable curves is very well studied, our understanding of stable surfaces is still in its infancy.

In the talk I will exhibit some phenomena that occur, guided by the question "Which techniques and results for surfaces of general type can be extended to stable surfaces? Suprisingly, the study of such very singular surfaces sometimes leads to very classical questions.