Operator Spaces and Group Algebras (07w5013)

A number of prominent specialists, including some world leading experts, in operator algebras/spaces, Banach algebras and locally compact groups will converge on The Banff Centre on August 19 – 24, 2007 for the workshop on Operator Spaces and Group Algebras hosted by the Banff International Research Station. Recently, some very deep and important problems on the exactness, uniform embeddability, and Haagerup property of locally compact groups, as well as the approximation properties and QWEP (quotients of C*-algebras with weak expectation property) problems of group C*-algebras, have been stimulating in several areas of mathematics. This meeting is expected to provide an opportunity to bring the experts in the related areas together to promote this beautiful and extraordinarily rich intersection between Banach/operator algebras and locally compact groups.

This meeting is co-organized by Professors Anthony Lau (University of Alberta), Eberhard Kaniuth (University of Paderborn) and Zhong-Jin Ruan (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign).

The Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS) is a collaborative Canada-US-Mexico venture that provides an environment for creative interaction as well as the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and methods within the mathematical sciences, with related disciplines and with industry. The research station is located at the Banff Centre in Alberta and is supported by Canada's Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the US National Science Foundation (NSF), Alberta's Advanced Education and Technology and Mexico's Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT).