Conference in Mathematical General Relativity; January 5 - 9, 2016; Sanya, Hainan, China.

Regents Of The University Of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor MI

Investigators

Abstract

The conference "Mathematical General Relativity", January 5 - 9, 2016, will be held at the Tsinghua Sanya International Mathematics Forum in Sanya, Hainan, China. This award provides travel support for US PhD students, postdocs and scientists to participate in the conference, which is sponsored by the Tsinghua Sanya International Mathematics Forum. In particular, this award enables students and early career researchers, who do not have other financial resources, to join the conference and to interact with international leading experts in the field. Mathematical general relativity (GR) studies the laws of the universe encoded in the Einstein equations linking the curvature of spacetime to its matter content by means of mainly geometric analysis. It thereby generates further important research results in geometric analysis as well as it answers burning physical questions about the universe. The nature of these problems require a deep understanding of the underlying geometry and the analysis of nonlinear partial differential equations. This conference will bring together leading international researchers working in different areas of mathematical general relativity to discuss their results, to initiate new collaborations and to investigate new directions of research in this field. In recent years, monumental breakthroughs in mathematical GR and geometric analysis have occurred. Among them we find the results showing that through the focusing of gravitational waves a closed trapped surface and subsequently a black hole will form. Moreover, initial data engineering has made huge progress through gluing techniques. Geometric flows and energy methods have proven to be essential in solving important problems in all areas of mathematical GR. New insights on the nature of gravitational waves, which are believed to be detected in the near future, have been obtained by geometric-analytic as well as numerical methods. Similar geometric-analytic techniques were used to gain new insights in other mathematical fields. A major goal of this conference is to facilitate interactions between different groups working in GR, including geometric analysts, physicists, astrophysicists and numerical relativists. The topics that will be discussed at this event range from gravitational waves to stability and formation of black holes, to strong cosmic censorship, to concepts of energy and quasilocal mass and related phenomena. In all these areas geometric analysis has played key roles in advancing exciting research in both mathematical and physical directions. A crucial point of the conference is to forge professional links between experts and graduate students as well as early career researchers, in particular to expose students and early career researchers to new developments in these areas. Conference website: http://ymsc.tsinghua.edu.cn/sanya/2016/CGR2016/home.aspx