What is . . . a normal function?
Matt Kerr (Washington University St Louis)
Normal functions are to families of algebraic cycles what period maps are to families of algebraic varieties. They are given by integrals of differential forms on non-closed chains instead of topological cycles, and satisfy inhomogeneous differential equations instead of homogeneous ones. The simplest examples are sections of families of elliptic curves, and I will spend some time discussing such an example. After that I will give a general picture of how they arise, what the main current problems about them are, and state a few recent results.
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