## Mathematics Department Colloquium: Period maps, complex and p-adic

Colloquium | January 26 | 4:10-5 p.m. | 60 Evans Hall

Xinwen Zhu, Caltech

Department of Mathematics

Hodge structures appear as abstractions of certain linear algebra structure on the cohomology of smooth projective algebraic varieties (more generally compact Kahler manifolds). The classifying spaces of Hodge structures are called period domains. While it is not known in general which Hodge structures come from cohomology of algebraic varieties, it is believed that those parameterized by hermitian symmetric domains (a special class of period domains) do arise in this way. Such a family is known to exist in many cases, but remains hypothetical in general, which hinders the development of arithmetic geometry related these domains.

In this talk, I will describe some recent progresses on p-adic aspects of these domains. The main tool is the p-adic non-abelian Hodge theory, which allows one to bypass the existence of the above mentioned hypothetical families.

vivek@math.berkeley.edu