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, and 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, and to the use of modular forms and other arithmetic techniques. The depth, power, and novelty of the results obtained in both fields thanks to their interaction is truly mind boggling.
This project initiates a biennial 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. Our conference will stimulate further research in both fields, and will help establish and deepen the interactions between them.
This was the first conference in a series of large meetings bringing together mathematicians and physicists who work on ideas related to string theory. String theory, as well as quantum field theory, have contributed a series of profound ideas which gave rise to entirely new mathematical fields and revitalized older ones. The conference aimed to engage the large and rapidly growing number of mathematicians and physicists working at the string-theoretic interface between the two academic fields and to facilitate the flow of ideas with mathematical techniques and ideas contributing crucially to major advances in string theory. This meeting initiated a series of conferences of record in mathematical string theory. The second meeting has just taken place in Bonn, and the next four annual conferences (numbers 3-6) are already in place. The Proceedings of the conference are being published: Block, Jonathan, Jacques Distler, Ron Donagi, and Eric Sharpe (eds.), {it String-Math 2011}, Proc. Sympos. Pure Math., vol. 85, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 2012. All the lectures are documented online in the conference web site: www.math.upenn.edu/StringMath2011/. It includes sections on: * Speakers * Participants * Public Lecture * Schedule * Contributed talks * Abstracts * Slides and Video * Live Stream * Pictures * Satellite Meetings, as well as practical info (Registration Form, Accommodation, Banquet, Maps and venue, Directions, Tourist info etc.) The conference placed an emphasis on young researchers. A large portion of the speakers were women and junor researchers. There was a public lecture by Cumrun Vafa, and a series of affiliated and satellite conferences.
