Department Colloquium
Department of Mathematics
Princeton University
October 18th, 2000
Multiplier ideals and their applications
In recent years, multiplier ideals have come to play an increasingly important role in algebraic geometry. Originally introduced in the analytic side of the field, these are ideal sheaves that arise in generalizing the classical vanishing theorems. Applications of the theory have included questions involving the geometry of theta divisors in abelian varieties, the deformation invariance of plurigenera of varieties of general type (Siu's theorem), and most recently some problems in commutative algebra. This talk will present a survey of multiplier ideals and some of their applications.