Alexander A. Voronov
 	          University of Minnesota

           Morse Theoretic Viewpoint on String Topology

Abstract: This is the first of the two talk I am planning to give on
the papers "Strong topology and Morse theory on the loop space" and
"Morse theory, graphs, and string topology" by R. Cohen and "On the
Floer homology of cotangent bundles" by A. Abbondandolo and
M. Schwarz.  The goal of the talks is to develop the algebraic
operations arising on the homology of a loop space in string topology
(due to M. Chas and D. Sullivan) using Morse theoretic approach to
homology, as well as the relationship between string topology and
Gromov-Witten theory.

In the first talk, I have discussed Sullivan chord diagrams,
cylindrical surfaces arising from them, and Morse theory on a loop
space.