Gauge Fields, Cosmology and Mathematical String Theory (09w5130)

The Banff International Research Station will host the “Gauge Fields, Cosmology and Mathematical String Theory” workshop next week, February 1 - February 6, 2009.

Some of the most high-powered mathematical physicists in the world will converge on Banff next week where the BIRS Institute will host a workshop on recent developments in superstring theory. This event is co-organized by Brian Greene of Columbia University, who is also the author of the best-selling book and star of the PBS Nova program entitled "The Elegant Universe." Other organizers are string theorists Steven Shenker of Stanford University, Nikita Nekrasov from the Institut des Hautes Etudes, Jim Bryan, Joanna Karczmarek and Gordon Semenoff from the Universities of Toronto and British Columbia. The workshop will focus on the hottest new results in superstring theory, which is a candidate for a unified theory of the fundamental constituents of matter and their interactions. The theory is touted as a solution to the long-standing problem of quantizing gravity and reconciling Einstein's general theory of relativity and the quantum theory. It has many profound consequences which, with the concerted efforts hundreds of theoretical physicists worldwide are slowly being unraveled.

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).