International Conference on Singularity Theory and Applications

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

Singularity theory is a meeting place of many disparate areas of mathematics, where different types of ideas, techniques and results merge together. The modern theory of singularities dates back to the 1960s, with the pioneering work of Thom, Hironaka, Brieskorn, Zariski, and many other renowed mathematicians. More recently, Singularity theory promoted vigorous interchanges among mathematical fields such as algebraic and geometric topology, algebraic geometry, number theory, and more applied fields such as the study of configurations in robot motion planning. An International Conference in Singularity Theory and Applications will be organized in Hefei, China, during July 25-31, 2011, and it will be hosted by the University of Science and Technology of China. The conference will be research-oriented, intended to disseminate recent developments, but it will also have a significant educational component, featuring introductory lectures so as to better strengthen connections among the assorted research groups represented and to provide access points for younger researchers and students. In the last century, considerable effort has been directed towards studying manifolds - spaces that locally look uniform, at each point and in each direction. This effort has been immensely successful; a substantial part of our insight has been gained through the study of various invariants (e.g., characteristic numbers and classes), the surgery program, etc. In recent decades, topologists have studied "singular" spaces with increasing interest, due to their numerous occurrences and applications within pure mathematics (algebraic geometry, number theory) and outside pure mathematics (mathematical physics, robot motion planning). In contrast to a manifold, a singular space may locally look different from point to point. The study of topological properties of singular spaces developed into the field of Singularity theory. The proposed conference will focus around recent developments in this fast advancing field of research. For more details about the conference, please see: http://www.math.wisc.edu/~maxim/conf/Hefei/Hefei.html