20 April 2011, General Mathematics Colloquium, Mai Gehrke (Radboud Universiteit)

Profinite algebras, such as profinite rings, groups, and monoids are often used in algebra and have, more recently, also found applications in computer science. Duality theory on the other hand plays a central role in the study of logics where it serves as the main mechanism in relating syntactic and semantic approaches. In recent work with Grigorieff and Pin we have shown that the category of profinite abstract algebras in any signature may be seen as a subcategory of all topo-relational dual spaces of a corresponding type. This technical result has allowed us to generalise a powerful method in automata theory. The talk will provide an introduction to the concepts involved and a glimpse at the automata and complexity theoretic applications

For more information, see http://www.science.uva.nl/research/math/Calendar/colloq/