Conference on Partitions, q-series, and Modular Forms

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

In March 2008, the Mathematics Department of the University of Florida will conduct a conference on Partitions, q-series and modular forms, which will include in it a Student Workshop. This conference is one of the highlights of a year long program on Algebra, Number Theory, and Combinatorics in 2007-08. The conference will bring together number theorists and combinatorialists to share and learn new methods and results. An important aim of the conference is to involve graduate students and advanced undergraduates. The Workshop in the first part is to prepare students for the Research Conference to follow. The theory of partitions and q-series is a central area of number theory having interactions with combinatorics, analysis, the theory of modular forms, computer algebra, and physics. It is an area where the Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan has made spectacular contributions. Topics covered in the conference will include Rogers-Ramanujan type identities, elliptic hypergeometric functions, partition congruences, modular forms and mock theta functions. A special feature of the research conference will be a series of lectures by Ken Ono on recent pathbreaking work connecting mock theta functions and modular forms. The three conference organizers from the University of Florida - Alexander Berkovich, Frank Garvan, and the PI - form one the major groups the theory of partitions, q-series, and modular forms, and the mathematics of Ramanujan. The strength of their program has been enhanced by association and collaboration with George Andrews, the premier authority on partitions and Ramanujan's work. This conference builds on several successful programs conducted previously by the number theorists at the University of Florida.