"Bi-Co Math Colloquium with Dr. Samuel Taylor"

Abstract: Using nothing more than the topology of the plane, we will construct a canonical circle at infinity from a (big) collection of properly embedded rays. The basic idea is similar to how one gets the reals from the rationals: first (circularly) order the set of rays and then `complete.’ Although the construction is entirely elementary, the situation is so common in low-dimensional topology that there are some pretty high-powered applications. For example, we’ll use it to establish a connection between Anosov flows on 3-manifolds and group actions on the circle!