USC Topology Seminar: Cohomology operations from even and odd Khovanov spectra

Event details Date: Monday, September 28, 2026 Time: 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - 265 - 3620 South Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90089 Type: Lecture / Talk / Workshop Campus: University Park Campus Department: Mathematics About this event Advika Rajapakse, UCLA Title: Cohomology operations from even and odd Khovanov spectra Abstract: Odd Khovanov homology, discovered by Ozsváth-Rasmussen-Szabó, is a link homology theory that categorifies the Jones polynomial. It is closely related to Khovanov homology, but it has extra suspected connections with Heegaard Floer homology. We investigate space-level lifts of odd Khovanov homology, called the odd Khovanov spectra, and classify these spaces for all prime knots up to 11 crossings by computing the second Steenrod square. We also uncover unexpected behavior of the odd Khovanov spectra, and investigate how their Steenrod squares relate to other cohomology operations. Official event details: https://calendar.usc.edu/event/usc-topology-seminar-cohomology-operations-from-even-and-odd-khovanov-spectra