This project co-sponsors a conference titled "A Geometry Conference in Honor of Nigel Hitchin". This conference will take place from September 4, 2006 to September 9, 2006 in Madrid, Spain. It is a Satellite Conference of the International Congress of Mathematicians 2006. Its scientific focus is concerned with the current and future development of differential and algebraic geometry arising from mathematical physics. Key topics for concerns are symplectic geometry, Kahler geometry, Einstein geometry, spinor and twistor geometry, generalized Kahler geometry, geometry and topology of gerbes, geometry of special holonomy, integrable systems, and the associated moduli problems in respective areas. The key impetus from physics to this conference comes from gravitational theory, string theory and mirror symmetry.
Through the proposed conference, leading practitioners in all these areas with different approaches will present most recent development, provide conference participants with an overall view of a cluster of issues and ideas. The conference will explore future development. This conference will sustain the interaction between geometry and mathematical physics, and bridge practitioners at all career levels to the frontier of this cluster of research topics, and hence sustain the workforce base in this area of mathematics and mathematical physics. The conference will publish a proceeding. More information can be found on the conference web site www.mat.csic.es/webpages/conf/hitchin2006/