Conference on Conformal Geometry and Riemann Surfaces

Cuny Queens College, Flushing NY

Investigators

Abstract

The conference "Conformal Geometry and Riemann Surfaces -- A conference in Honor of Professor Ravi S. Kulkarni" will be held at Queens College of the City University of New York, 65-30 Kiseena Blvd, Flushing, NY 11367, on October 25, 26, and 27, 2013. The subject of Riemann surfaces is one of the most fundamental areas in mathematics. Mathematicians in the 19th century extensively worked on Riemann surfaces from the point of view of algebraic curves, often by concretely representing them as a branched covering of the Riemann sphere, using a meromorphic function. The idea of analytic continuation of germs of holomorphic functions had also led to the study of Riemann surfaces. Riemann's famous 1851 dissertation inaugurated the study of geometrical methods in function theory. Here, one finds the idea of a Riemann surface as a covering surface with a system of local uniformizing parameters. The publication of Weyl's 1913 classic began the formal study of Riemann surfaces, where a Riemann surface was understood to be a connected complex manifold of one complex dimension. At present, the subject of Riemann surfaces is at the heart of many important branches of modern mathematics. It intersects with a broad range of fields, like geometric function theory, hyperbolic manifolds, discontinuous groups, complex dynamics, and more recently, string theory in particle physics. The main goal of our conference is to bring together leading researchers in conformal geometry, Riemann surfaces, and related fields, who will talk on the present state of research in their specialized areas, and also give a broad overview of how their research is related with other areas of mathematics. An important purpose of this conference is to honor the many fundamental contributions of Ravi Kulkarni to a wide range of mathematical areas closely related to discontinuous groups, conformal geometry, and Riemann surfaces. The aim is to explore some of the key developments in the areas related to, or directly influenced by Kulkarni's broad research contributions. We expect this to be a very stimulating conference, with ample scope for mathematical interactions. All invited speakers are outstanding experts in their fields of expertise. They will give an excellent overview of the many areas that interact with conformal geometry and Riemann surfaces. There will be about 70 participants, who will immensely benefit from the wide range of talks. The City University of New York has a lively and very active group of researchers working in Riemann surfaces and various aspects of conformal geometry. We are especially interested in inviting graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from CUNY Graduate Center, New York University, Columbia University, SUNY at StonyBrook, Rutgers (Newark), and Yale University. In particular, we want to invite recent Ph.Ds and young assistant professors from all CUNY Colleges (Senior and Community Colleges). Many of them are seriously interested to continue research. This conference will give them a very good opportunity to interact with other mathematicians, and get an exposure to some important research problems. We expect this conference to be of great help for young mathematicians who are interested in Riemann surfaces and related topics, and who also aspire to be future specialists.