University of Toronto's Symplectic Geometry Seminar

Abstract: Poisson manifolds are known to carry singular symplectic foliations. If G is a compact Lie group, a result by Alekseev, Kosmann-Schwarzbach and Meinrenken asserts that, similarly, any hamiltonian quasi-Poisson G-manifold admits a singular foliation (and each leaf can be seen as a quasi-hamiltonian space). In this talk, I will discuss a different approach to the study of quasi-Poisson spaces and their foliations which does not require the compactness of G or even the existence of a moment map. Some of the underlying ideas are closely related to Drinfeld's construction of "doubles". (Joint work with M. Crainic)