Abstract: Not so long ago, the relations between algebraic geometry and combinatorics were strictly governed by the former party, with results like log-concavity of the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial of matroids shackled by intuitions and techniques from projective algebraic geometry, specifically Hodge Theory. And so, while we proved analogues for these results, combinatorics felt subjugated to inspirations from outside of it.
In recent years, a new powerful technique has emerged: Instead of following the geometric statements of Hodge theory about signature, we use intuitions from the Hall marriage theorem, translated to algebra: once there, they are statements about self-pairings, the non-degeneracy of pairings on subspaces to understand the global geometry of the pairing. This was used to establish Lefschetz type theorems far beyond the scope of algebraic geometry, which in turn established solutions to long-standing conjectures in combinatorics.

I will survey this theory, called biased pairing theory, and new developments within it, as well as new applications to combinatorial problems. Reporting on joint work with Stavros Papadaki, Vasiliki Petrotou and Johanna Steinmeyer.