Mini-workshop: Variable curvature bounds, analysis and topology on Dirichlet spaces. Abstracts from the mini-workshop held December 5--11, 2021 (hybrid meeting) (Q2693055)

Summary: A Dirichlet form \(\mathcal{E}\) is a densely defined bilinear form on a Hilbert space of the form \(L^2 (X, \mu)\), subject to some additional properties, which make sure that \(\mathcal{E}\) can be considered as a natural abstraction of the usual Dirichlet energy \(\mathcal{E}(f_1, f_2) = \int_D (\nabla\, f_1, \nabla\, f_2)\) on a domain \(D\) in \(\mathbb{R}^m\). The main strength of this theory, however, is that it allows also to treat nonlocal situations such as energy forms on graphs simultaneously. In typical applications, \(X\) is a metrizable space, and the theory of Dirichlet forms makes it possible to define notions such as curvature bounds on \(X\) (although \(X\) need not be a Riemannian manifold), and also to obtain topological information on \(X\) in terms of such geometric information.