Peter Topping (University of Warwick) – Curve shortening flow - old and new

The curve shortening flow evolves an embedded curve in the plane (say) in order to reduce its length as quickly as possible. It is simple to visualise for non-experts and yet hosts a beautiful and often surprising theory. It is a great model for other geometric flows such as Ricci flow and yet is useful in applications in its own right. I plan to survey some of what is known, including some of my recent work with Arjun Sobnack. The talk should be accessible to a general mathematician.