Reference number : GC-2017-Q1-01531, amendment number : , agreement type : G, recipient legal name : Reichstein, Zinovy (The University of British Columbia), recipient country : CA, recipient province : nan, recipient city : British Columbia|Colombie-Britannique, recipient postal code : nan, program name english : Discovery Grants Program - Individual, program name french : Programme de subventions à la découverte - individuelles, program purpose english : The great 19th century German mathematician Felix Klein pioneered the idea of using symmetries to understand geometric shapes. Symmetries of a given figure can be multiplied, by applying one after the other. In modern language, they form an algebraic structure, called a "group". Group theory has proved to be an important tool in geometry as well as other areas of pure and applied mathematics. Much of my work has been related to algebraic groups and their actions on algebraic varieties and other objects of interest in algebra and geometry. Twenty years ago Joe Buhler and I assigned a numerical invariant to a geometric figure X with prescribed symmetries. This invariant is an integer between 0 and the dimension of X. It is the minimal dimension of a figure Y, such that one can "compress" X to Y without losing any of the symmetries. We called this number the essential dimension of X and noticed that it is related to many questions in classical algebra. Because symmetry groups are prevalent in many areas of mathematics, essential dimension, and the related notion of canonical dimension, turned out to be useful in many other contexts as well. These notions have since been explored by many mathematicians, using a variety of techniques. In 2010 the algebra section of the International Congress of Mathematicians featured two lectures on this subject (one on essential dimension and another one on canonical dimension), and in 2012 and 2013 both the AMS and the CMS awarded research prizes for work in this area. I propose to continue working in this area, exploring new directions, including the emerging applications in modular representation theory., program purpose french : The great 19th century German mathematician Felix Klein pioneered the idea of using symmetries to understand geometric shapes. Symmetries of a given figure can be multiplied, by applying one after the other. In modern language, they form an algebraic structure, called a "group". Group theory has proved to be an important tool in geometry as well as other areas of pure and applied mathematics. Much of my work has been related to algebraic groups and their actions on algebraic varieties and other objects of interest in algebra and geometry. Twenty years ago Joe Buhler and I assigned a numerical invariant to a geometric figure X with prescribed symmetries. This invariant is an integer between 0 and the dimension of X. It is the minimal dimension of a figure Y, such that one can "compress" X to Y without losing any of the symmetries. We called this number the essential dimension of X and noticed that it is related to many questions in classical algebra. Because symmetry groups are prevalent in many areas of mathematics, essential dimension, and the related notion of canonical dimension, turned out to be useful in many other contexts as well. These notions have since been explored by many mathematicians, using a variety of techniques. In 2010 the algebra section of the International Congress of Mathematicians featured two lectures on this subject (one on essential dimension and another one on canonical dimension), and in 2012 and 2013 both the AMS and the CMS awarded research prizes for work in this area. I propose to continue working in this area, exploring new directions, including the emerging applications in modular representation theory., agreement title english : Essential dimension and related topics, agreement title french : Essential dimension and related topics, agreement number : RGPIN, agreement value : 215000.0, agreement start date : 2017-05-10, agreement end date : nan, description english : nan, description french : nan, expected results english : nan, expected results french : nan, additional information english : Grant or Award spanning more than one fiscal year. (2017-2018 to 2022-2023), additional information french : Subvention ou bourse octroyée s'appliquant à plus d'un exercice financier. (2017-2018 à 2022-2023), owner organization : nserc-crsng, owner organization title : Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada | Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada