Travel funds are requested to support the participation of a number of U.S. scientists in a conference entitled "Geometric Analysis and Relativity", to be held July 6-10 in Hefei, China. The aim of the conference, which will be hosted and partially supported by the University of Science and Technology of China, is to bring together a number of the world's leaders in research on the mathematical aspects of general relativity and cosmology, and to have them discuss recent developments and new directions of research in these areas with leading experts in geometric analysis. A key goal of the conference is to expose promising young mathematicians in China to the exciting research developments in mathematical relativity.
Many of the recent advances in mathematical relativity have been strongly stimulated by its close ties to the analysis of black holes and the study of new cosmological models, and by its potential importance in analyzing and interpreting data collected by the Laser Interferometric Gravitational Observatory along with other gravitational wave detection devices. Geometric analysis has long been a key component of the mathematics of general relativity, and the recent developments in geometric analysis - especially those related to geometric flows - are expected to continue to stimulate new ideas and new analytical approaches in mathematical relativity. Especially note-worthy is the role that geometric flows have played in the study of the Penrose inequality, which relates perceived masses and the effective "areas" of black holes. The conference organizers hope and expect that exposing new researchers to the interaction of exciting ideas in the confluence of mathematical relativity and geometric analysis will stimulate further advances in these closely allied areas.
More information can be found on the conference website
http://math.ustc.edu.cn/Conference/2014gar/guide.html
