Despite being an analytic/algebraic geometer by name (and title, and qualification, and academic upbringing, and …), there are so many gaps in my knowledge, even when it comes to simple foundational things. One thing which I have always tried to do during my academic “career”, however, is to be the person who asks the first stupid question, so that others can feel less nervous about asking their (certainly less stupid) questions. Thus: this blog post.

I am going to explain what I do know, talk about what I don’t, and then ask some semi-concrete questions that I’m hoping people will be able to help me out with!

I recently submitted a video to the Junior Mathematician Research Archive that gives a brief overview of the work in my PhD thesis. You can watch the video here but, be warned, it’s really probably not the most coherent (ha ha) narrative.

For the sake of it, or in case you’re the sort of person who prefers to read instead of watch, I’ve included the transcript of the whole video below.

Having finished my defence (entirely virtually, and hence, of course, plagued with many technical difficulties), I have now been able to share my thesis with the world. Most of the technical content can already be found in my two preprints (part I and part II), but I think the thesis is a much more self-contained and leisurely read, with a lot more examples and (hopefully) helpful appendices. It also has geese! You can find a copy of it on here on TEL.