Pedro Boavida: Equivariant formality and the rational homotopy of spaces of smooth embeddings

Abstract: How much does the rational homotopy type of the space of smooth embedding between two manifolds depend on the smooth structures? I will describe how an equivariant form of the formality for the little discs operad can be used to probe the rational homotopy type of smooth embedding spaces, and provide answers to this question in some particular cases. This is joint work with G. Horel and J. Cirici.