Abstract: Based on recent joint work with Christopher Fillmore and Herbert Edelsbrunner I will explain how to beat the world record for the number of closed geodesics of index one on a K3 surface. Such geodesics are related to some conjectures originating in the Physics literature and their construction is related to an open problem in electrostatics posed by Maxwell in 1873. Time permitting, I will also comment on how to use gauge theory to detect these geodesics, which in this setting are codimension-3 minimal submanifolds.

For further information please contact elisur.magrini@unibocconi.it