Colloquium: Moduli spaces and modular forms

Abstract: Classical modular forms are highly symmetric functions on the upper half plane whose Fourier expansions hold arithmetic information. Moduli spaces in algebraic geometry are geometric objects parametrizing deformations of varieties. I will explain a far-reaching relation between these two notions via period maps, with applications to enumerative geometry, Hodge theory, and the Severi Problem. 

Host: Matt Kerr