West Coast Operator Algebra Seminar

University Of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM

Investigators

Abstract

This award provides support to defray expenses of participants in the West Coast Operator Algebra Seminar South Eastern Analysis Meeting (WCOAS) on the campus of the University of New Mexico, October 1-2, 2011. The WCOAS conferences bring together both experienced and junior researchers, including graduate students, and postdocs to discuss recent work and advances in operator algebras. At this meeting participants will learn of progress in most of the following fields: free probability, subfactors, operator spaces, quantum groups, semigroups of endomorphisms, classification of C*-algebras, non-commutative geometry; graph C*-algebras, and non-commutative dynamical systems. The conference goal to bring participants up to date on developments in the aforementioned areas is especially important to junior investigators and graduate students. Particular care is taken to ensure that the schedule is balanced between younger and more established speakers. Based on the tradition of past successful WCOAS meetings, there is every expectation that this conference will be an event with significant research and training impact. Operator Algebra refers to a broad array of related topics that sprang from papers of Murray and von Neumann circa 1930. The initial motivation was to provide a foundation for quantum mechanics in physics, and today there is much overlap between various areas of physics and operator algebras. Application and interaction of operator algebra are more broad than physics, however, getting into number theory, dynamical systems, random matrices and numerical linear algebra. Priority for funding and speaking opportunities will be given to graduate students and other young researchers as well as members of groups underrepresented in mathematics. The professional development and integration of a diverse group of researchers into the operator algebra community are anticipated impacts of the project. Scientifically, there is potential for advances in the theory of operator algebras and related disciplines and applications of operator algebras to other disciplines.