Workshops

This workshop will focus on the less common applications of symplectic geometry to String theory. It seeks to go beyond the stringy applications of integrable systems and moment map techniques. The collaborative emphasis will be on the implementation of the new methods developed by the symplectic topologists to the physics of D-branes, cosmology and astrophysics. The following research projects will be discussed:

Developing graded Floer homology techniques for detection of stability and annihilation of D-branes. Constructing braid invariants of domain walls and topological obstructions to phase transitions in heterotic M-theory.

• Understanding the symplectic versions of the standard string dualities.
• In particular understanding mirror symmetry at the (large volume)-(large complex structure limit) as a duality between affine symplectic and Riemannian integrable structures. Understanding the decay conditions on BPS states as non-commutative Lagrangian intersections.
• Describing the connection between the Randall-Sundrum localization of gravity and the singularities of the Morse flow on groups of symplectomorphisms.
• Cosmological applications – Floer invariants of colliding branes and the dynamics of the Ekpyrotic model of the early Universe.

Organizing Committee

Ron Donagi (University of Pennsylvania)
Anton Kapustin (Caltech / USC)
Maxim Kontsevich (IHES (France))
Burt Ovrut (University of Pennsylvania)
Tony Pantev (University of Pennsylvania)
Shing-Tung Yau (Harvard University)