This award will support participation of speakers and junior researchers in the 2014 Midwest Representation Theory Conference, to be held September 5-7, 2014 at the University of Chicago. Representation theory developed as a generalization of classical harmonic analysis, through which functions can be decomposed into their elementary components, much as a prism breaks light into its spectrum. The theory found wide applications in physical sciences (such as quantum mechanics) and in other areas of mathematics (notably number theory and geometry). The power of the theory comes, in part, from its utilization of algebra and topology in concert with analysis. This (almost) annual conference has been a source of important information for experts in the field, and many collaborative efforts have originated from discussions at these meetings.
This, the 40th anniversary of the original Midwest Conference, will honor the contributions of Rebecca A. Herb, and it will also be in memory of the Midwest Representation Theory Conference founder, Paul J. Sally, Jr. (1933-2013). The invited speakers will all be leaders in the field and will reflect recent developments in representation theory. We expect speakers will report on recent progress, including applications to number theory and geometry, and the state of the Langlands Program. Topics covered may include unitary representations of reductive Lie groups, Plancherel formula, admissible representations of p-adic groups, Galois representations, functorial transfer to general linear groups, Theta-correspondences, orbital integrals, and Fourier transforms. The conference webpage is located at the following address: www.math.lsa.umich.edu/MRTC_2014/.
