This Pan-American Advanced Studies Institutes (PASI) award, jointly supported by the NSF and Department of Energy (DOE), will take place at the Instituto de Matematicas, Unidad Morelia of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, located in Morelia, Mexico, in January, 2006. Organized by Dr. Hugo Rossi of the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (MSIR) in Berkeley, California, together with Dr. Alejandro Adem of the University of Wisconsin, the institute will focus on the interplay between quantum field theory and mathematics that has developed in the past few decades. New concepts of mathematics will be explored and developed through intensive conferences and workshops. Three themes will be emphasized: stringy topology, including branes and orbifolds; generalized McKay correspondences and representation theory; and Gromov-Witten theory. Connections with non-commutative geometry and quantum cohomology will be explored.
The workshop will activate collaborative efforts among mathematicians and physicists of the western hemisphere, and will span all age groups from graduate students to post-docs to junior faculty to senior faculty. The goal is to provide both structured opportunities and unstructured time to develop strong and continuing bonds among those of diverse ages, intellectual orientations, and geographical backgrounds. Mini-courses will be offered to bring those with some of the mathematical or physics background up to speed in the more specialized topics that will be the focus of the research talks. Long-term communication and collaborations should be the end result. Dissemination will occur through a web-site that will offer online registration, travel and lodging information, a list of pre-workshop readings, workshop lecture notes, and other materials. In addition, the PASI will benefit from MSRI's excellent archival capabilities, in print and video, which are customarily available to the public.
