This award supports travel for junior researchers and invited speakers participating in the "Conference on Symmetry, Separation, Super-Integrability and Special Functions," held 17-19 September 2010 at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. The meeting focuses on recent developments and new challenges in symmetry methods for analysis of mathematical models that arise in a broad range of physical applications. The conference topics include: -- Linear and nonlinear Lie symmetries of differential and difference equations: hidden (higher order) symmetries, differential invariants. -- Separation of variables theory and its relation to symmetry; applications to spinor equations and general relativity. -- Super-integrability of classical and quantum systems. -- Exact and quasi-exact solvability for Schrodinger eigenvalue equations. -- Relationship between symmetries and super-integrability of differential systems (especially hidden symmetries) and the theory of special functions. -- q-algebras and q-special functions; Askey-Wilson polynomials. -- Representation theory of Lie algebras, quadratic algebras, and cubic algebras.
The conference will assemble leading experts, promising younger researchers, and graduate students from around the world to assess the rapid advances in the area, reach a consensus on what are the most important problems, and evaluate the most promising directions for further advances. The conference will include a panel discussion that takes stock of the field, to be documented and posted online. The conference encourages and supports participation by graduate students, postdocs, junior faculty, women, and minorities.
Conference web site: www.math.umn.edu/conferences/s4/
, September 17-19, 2010, at the University of Minnesota. This conference was held in honor of Willard Miller, Jr., who made important contributions to the topics covered by the meeting. A wide range of topics in mathematics, physics, and engineering were covered by the lectures and interactions among participants, including relativity, quantum mechanics, image processing, and new and exciting theoretical develpments. The conference was well publicized, and attendance was high, including 19 top US and international speakers, including several former students and collaborators of the honoree, who presented lectures on the state of the art for the various conference topics. The conference included a poster session so that other participants could publicize their research contributions. The funds supported a total of 39 participants, including 17 of the speakers and 2 of the organizers: 11 senior US participants, 8 US students/ junior researchers; 15 senior International participants, 5 International students/ junior researchers; and includes 4 women; 2 Hispanic. A special issue of the electronic journal SIGMA (Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications) is devoted to the topics of the conference. Submissions were invited from conference participants and other authors working in the field. A total of 20 papers currently appear in the issue.
