Connections among Spin Geometry, Minimal Surfaces and Relativity (26w5603)

The Chennai Mathematical Institute will host the "Connections among Spin Geometry, Minimal Surfaces and Relativity" workshop in Chennai, India from January 11 to January 16, 2026. Participants will check in at the hotel starting on the evening of the Sunday prior to the start of the workshop, and check out before noon of the following Friday.

Space and time bend around black holes, and this behavior can be analyzed using mathematical tools from the geometry of curved shapes. One of these tools is the study of minimal surfaces, which represent the event horizons of black holes. Another set of tools comes from the theory of spinors, which has been used to understand relativistic aspects of particle physics and also provides a way to repackage the information of curved space in a form that is easier to perform calculations with. These mathematical tools actually have relevance far beyond just black holes and touch upon such diverse fields such as the exotic geometric structures of grand unified physical theories. Our goal is to bring together experts in the diverse fields that use these common mathematical tools in order to push forward the frontier of geometry and topology through interdisciplinary research.

The Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI) in Chennai, India, and the Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS) in Banff, are collaborative Canada-US-Mexico ventures that provide 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 in Banff is supported by Canada's Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), and Alberta's Advanced Education