Speaker: 

Vinayak Vatsal

Institution: 

University of British Columbia

Time: 

Saturday, October 27, 2007 - 10:00am

Location: 

McDonnell Douglas Engineering Auditorium

It has been known since Euler that the values of the Riemann zeta function at negative integers are certain rational numbers, namely the Bernoulli numbers Bk. Similarly, the values of Dirichlet L-functions at s=0 are related to class numbers of certain number fields. These are simple instances of a common phenomenon, namely that the values of L-functions at critical points are algebraic, up to a simple factor, and that these algebraic numbers are related to algebraic quantities such as class numbers and Selmer groups. The present talk will be a survey talk on the algebraicity of special values of L-functions and their divisibility properties modulo primes.