Geometry and Topology Seminar: "The Witten Deformation and the Poincaré-Hopf Index Theorem"

Abstract: The Witten deformation is a powerful tool for geometry and topology which was introduced by Edward Witten in the 1980s. In this talk, I will illu- minate the main idea of the Witten deformation by discussing a proof of the Poincaré-Hopf index theorem engaging the Witten deformation. To ex- plain the key points, I will mainly focus on vector fields with discrete non- degenerate singularities on a closed manifold.

Host: Yanli Song