Machine Computation in Homotopy Theory

Spheres are the basic building blocks of geometry. More complicated geometric objects can be built by attaching spheres to each other along continuous maps. For many purposes, such constructions depend only on the homotopy classes of these continuous maps. A fundamental problem in algebraic topology is to compute these homotopy classes, i.e., to compute the homotopy groups of spheres. Machines can be used to great effect in the exhaustive computation of these fundamental invariants of homotopy theory. The workshop will study several software packages that are specifically designed for this purpose. Participants will have the opportunity to interact directly with codebases in work groups led by experienced programmers. The workshop will also introduce a variety of projects in homotopy theory that rely on computers.