The conference "Growth in Groups" will take place in the conference center Le Louverain, which is located in the vicinity of Neuchâtel, Switzerland, during the period June 24-27, 2014. Growth in groups has been a fascinating and successful subject connecting algebra, geometry, analysis and combinatorics to give some groundbreaking and profound results, such as the celebrated theorem of Gromov on groups of polynomial growth or the existence of groups of intermediate growth by Grigorchuck. This conference will provide an overview of recent results in the area through the research talks given by the invited speakers. It will also contain two mini-courses for PhD students and post-docs. The topics of the conference include: standard growth in groups and graphs, growth rates, growth in Coxeter groups, conjugacy growth, uniform growth, geodesic growth, subgroup growth, growth and amenability, growth and 2-Betti numbers, formal languages and growth.
Through its nature, the conference seeks the interaction between senior and junior mathematicians. The conference will take place in an isolated, relatively small, but well organized conference center, a location which should be very conductive to discussions and research. The mixture of world-class scientists presenting their work together with the mini-courses for young scientists will provide an introduction to this field in a friendly and accessible manner. The conference is designed to be a great opportunity for networking and training for junior mathematicians. Funds will be used mainly to cover the travel and hosting costs for young participants.
More details for the conference can be found at https://sites.google.com/site/neuchatel2014/
The conference `Growth in Groups 2014’ took place in Le Louverain, the canton of Neuchâtel, (Switzerland) between June 24 and June 27. The conference was devoted to the topic of growth in groups, an area of major importance in the development of geometric group theory. One of the main objectives of conference was to introduce to young researchers to this area. There were two minicourses, one given by Avinoam Mann (Jerusalem), titled `Three (or more) proofs of Gromov's Theorem’, and the other one given by Laurent Bartholdi (Göttingen) titled `Growth and wreath products.’ The first minicourse review different aproaches to the fundamental Theorem of Gromov about groups of polynomial growth. The second minicourse privided the ideas and techniques for constructing groups of intermediate growth. Among of the 46 participants, more than half of them were PhD students of postdocs. The grant funded a delegation of 9 US participants, seven of them were young mathematicians. There were also talks 9 research talks that covered a wide range of topics around `growth in groups’, including connections with analyisis, geometry or computer science. The set-up of the conference, with all talks, meals and accommodation in the same place, facilitated discussions between the participants. This friendly enviroment has led to new collaborations, and helped to promote the interaction between senior and youger mathematicians.
