The 2014 String-Math Conference (SMC) will be held at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, AB, June 9-13, 2014. Additionally, both pre- and post-conference events will be held in Vancouver, Edmonton, and Banff. The week before SMC 2014, a String-Math Summer School will be held at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. The week following SMC 2014 features two Satellite Workshops in Alberta: "Calabi-Yau Manifolds and their Moduli" at the University of Alberta and "Quantum Curves and Quantum Knot Invariants" at the Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS). The String-Math Conferences are a series of large meetings bringing together mathematicians and physicists who work on ideas related to string theory. The nature of interactions between mathematicians and physicists has been thoroughly transformed in recent years. String theory, as well as quantum field theory, has contributed a series of profound ideas which gave rise to entirely new mathematical fields and revitalized older ones. By now there is a large and rapidly growing number of both mathematicians and physicists working at the string-theoretic interface between the two academic fields. The influence flows in both directions, with mathematical techniques and ideas contributing crucially to major advances in string theory.
For mathematics, string theory has been a source of many significant inspirations, ranging from Seiberg-Witten theory in four-manifolds, to enumerative geometry and Gromov-Witten theory in algebraic geometry, to work on the Jones polynomial in knot theory, to advances in symplectic topology, to recent progress in the geometric Langlands program and the development of derived algebraic geometry and n-category theory. In the other direction, mathematics has provided physicists with powerful tools, ranging from powerful differential geometric techniques for solving or analyzing key partial differential equations, to toric geometry, to K-theory and derived categories in D-branes, to the analysis of Calabi-Yau manifolds and string compactifications, to the use of modular forms and other arithmetic techniques. This mutual interaction has enhanced the depth, power, and novelty of the results obtained in both fields. This award provides partial support for travel and lodging to advanced students and postdoctoral participants. Participation of young researchers and those from underrepresented groups is actively encouraged. The results presented at the conference will be disseminated through a conference web site
https://sites.google.com/a/ualberta.ca/stringmath2014/
and through the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences online video archive
which will host video recordings of the talks, slides, and notes.
