Principal Investigator: Xiu Xiong Chen
The next Great Lakes Geometry Conference will be held May 1 - 4, 2003 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. This is an international conference held annually in the Midwest region, rotating among different universities. The aim of this conference will be to introduce the latest developments in the field of geometric analysis and some closely related areas. A partial list of topics which will be covered by this conference include: (Kaehler-) Einstein equation and constant scalar curvature metric equation (Yamabe problem); (Hermitian-) Yang-Mills equation; minimal surface equation; harmonic map problem and J- holomorphic curves (Cauchy-Riemann equation); and the geodesic equation in the infinite dimensional space of Kaehler metrics which is given by a homogenous complex Monge-Ampere equation. These equations fit together with the corresponding evolution equations: (Kaehler-) Ricci flow, Yang-Mills flow, the mean curvature flow, and the harmonic map flow, etc. People would like to know (local and global) existence, regularity and uniqueness of solutions to these equations. Many deep works have arisen by studying different aspects of these challenging problems.
Differential geometry is a fundamental and vital field of mathematics which has many far reaching applications beyond the realm of pure mathematics. To name a few: the study of Kaehler geometry, especially Calabi-Yau manifolds, has important applications in theoretical physics; the study of (inverse) mean curvature flow has important applications in image processing; and the study of curves, surfaces and their higher-dimensional analogues have important applications in computer graphics, engineering and optimization.
