Number Theory and Physics at the Crossroads

The Banff International Research Station will host the "Number Theory and Physics at the Crossroads" workshop from May 8th to May 13th, 2011.

In the last decades and half, the world has seen explosive interactions between Number Theory, Arithmetic and Algebraic Geometry, and Theoretical Physics (in particular, String Theory). To name a few, the classical modular forms, quasi-modular forms, and Jacobi forms appear in many areas of Physics, e.g., in mirror symmetry, topological quantum field theory, Gromov-Witten invariants, conformal field theory, Calabi-Yau manifolds and in block holes. Also modularity questions of Calabi-Yau varieties and other higher dimensional varieties in connection with Langlands Program are getting considerable attention and feedbacks from physics. Zeta-functions and L-series enter scenes at various places in physics. Via renormalization, Feynman integrals are related to multiple zeta-values, and purportedly to motives. Calculations of the energy and charge degeneracies of black holes lead surprisingly to Jacobi forms and Siegel modular forms. There have been strong desires among mathematicians and physicists for more workshops directed to the areas of number theory and physics at the crossroads. A series of workshops have been organized responding to that demand, and in fact, the proposed workshop is the fifth in this series.

The Banff International Research Station for Mathematical Innovation and Discovery (BIRS) is a collaborative Canada-US-Mexico venture that provides an environment for creative interaction as well as the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and methods within the Mathematical Sciences, with related disciplines and with industry. The research station is located at The Banff Centre in Alberta and is supported by Canada's Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Alberta's Advanced Education and Technology, and Mexico's Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACYT).

BIRS Scientific Director, Nassif Ghoussoub
E-mail: birs-director[@]birs.ca
http://www.birs.ca/~nassif