Conference on Groupoids and Stacks in Geometry and Physics

Abstract

Award: DMS-0406368

Principal Investigator: Ping Xu

The proposal is to partially support a five-day workshop on

'Groupoids and Stacks in Physics and Geometry', to be held at the

Centre International de Rencontres Mathematiques (Luminy, France)

from June 28 to July 2, 2004. The workshop is organized by PI

with Kai Behrend from the University of British Columbia,

Canada. One objective of the proposed workshop is to bring

together the groupoid community (consisting of both differential

geometers and operator algebraists) and the stack community, in

order to encourage more interaction and cross-fertilization

between these fields. PI also wishes to bring to the workshop

physicists working on quantum field theory and string theory,

since physics has been a steady source of ideas in the

aforementioned subjects.

Groupoids/stacks is a mathematical notion which arises naturally

in order to study symmetries of objects such as finite parts of a

crystal. It is related to mechanics, physics, and geometry. The

subject may also have potential applications to biology. There

are many bright young people working in these subjects around the

world and this workshop will be a great opportunity to bring

U.S. researchers, especially young people, to exchange their

ideas with their international colleagues and to broaden their

perspective. PI anticipates inviting many mathematicians at the

postdoctoral and graduate student level (from the United States,

Africa, Canada, and Europe) to the workshop.