Vanderbilt University, Department of Mathematics
Nashville, Tennessee, USA


THE FIRST EAST COAST

OPERATOR ALGEBRAS SYMPOSIUM

September 20 and 21, 2003



The East Coast Operator Algebras Symposium (ECOAS) is a new yearly conference series in operator algebras and applications which will be held during the fall semester at various venues along the generalized east coast. The first meeting in this series will take place at Vanderbilt University on Saturday, September 20 and Sunday, September 21, 2003. The second symposium is tentatively planned at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis during fall 2004.

We strongly encourage students and postdocs to attend this conference. Please read the section on financial aid below regarding information on how to apply for financial support.

Schedule

Talks will start on Saturday, September 20, at 9:15 am and end at 3:50 pm on Sunday, September 21. All lectures will be held in Lecture Hall 4309, Stevenson Center (for short SC). The seminar room SC 5208 (right next to SC 4309) and the seminar rooms in the math building (e.g. SC 1312, SC 1320, SC 1403, SC 1404) are available for discussions. Limited computer access is available in the computer lab of the mathematics department (SC 1427). Moreover Vanderbilt campus has a wireless network which is accessible from many campus locations.

Directions to the lecture hall. The Stevenson Center consists of several buildings. The mathematics department is located in building 1 and the lecture hall in building 4, which are right next to each other. For more details, please consult the campus map (click on ``Building List'', then ``Mathematics Building, Stevenson Center'' to find the math department and on ``Building List'', then ``Lecture Halls/Stevenson Center'' to find the lecture hall. Note that the map is zoomable.).

Click to see the schedule of talks (pdf file, 51k) (last updated 9/4/03), the list of participants (ASCII file, 11k) or list of participants (ps file, 38k) (last updated 9/22/03) and the abstracts (dvi file, 1kb) or abstracts (pdf file, 72kb) (last updated 9/16/03).

Invited Speakers

Alexis Alevras, US Naval Academy
Semigroups of endomorphisms of B(H)

Marta Asaeda, University of Iowa
Khovanov homology of links in F x I

Hari Bercovici, Indiana University
Eigenvalue inequalities and addition of free random variables

Nate Brown, Penn State University
C*-algebras and numerical analysis?

Dorin Dumitrascu, Dartmouth College
On C*-algebras and K-theory for infinite-dimensional Fredholm manifolds

Vaughan Jones, UC Berkeley
An obstruction to being a principal graph

Dirk Kreimer, IHES & Boston University
The bare bones of QFT: numbers, Hopf algebras and NCG

Henri Moscovici, Ohio State University
Rankin-Cohen deformations along the transverse fundamental class

Narutaka Ozawa, Tokyo University (visiting UC Berkeley)
Weakly exact von Neumann algebras

John Roe, Penn State University
Finite propagation operators which are Fredholm

Junhao Shen, University of Pennsylvania
On the free entropy dimension of some von Neumann algebras

Maria Grazia Viola, Texas A&M University
On non-outer conjugate actions of a cyclic group on an interpolated free group factor

Transparencies and other material related to the talks

  • Dumitrascu (transparencies of talk, pdf file)

  • Jones, Planar algebras I (preprint) (ps file)
  • Jones, Quadratic tangles in planar algebras (incomplete preprepreprint) (ps file)

  • Kreimer, Factorization in quantum field theory: an exercise in Hopf algebras and local singularities ("Frontiers in Number Theory, Physics and Geometry", Les Houches, March 2003; hep-th/0306020)
  • Kreimer, New mathematical structures in renormalizable quantum field theories (Annals Phys. 303 (2003) 179-202; hep-th/0211136)

  • Moscovici (transparencies of talk, pdf file)

  • Roe (transparencies of talk, pdf file)

  • Shen (transparencies of talk, pdf file)

    Registration

    All participants are asked to register. Please download the registration form here, fill it out and email it to the Organizing Committee (click on ``registration form here'', then save the registration form to a file (use your browser's ``Save page as'' feature), edit it and email the file as an attachment to the organizing committee). If you prefer an email version of the registration form, please request it by email from the Organizing Committee. There will be a registration fee of $20. If you intend to request support, please read the section ``Financial Aid'' before filling out the registration form.

    Financial Aid

    Financial support is available to (partially) fund graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and other participants without grant support. We will try to fund graduate students and postdocs fully. We encourage those of you who are asking for support to share accommodations. If you plan to apply for funding, please fill out the registration form (see section ``Registration'') at your earliest convenience and provide the information requested. Please submit your request for financial support by September 5, 2003. Late applications will be considered as long as financial support is available. Note that we are unable to provide any support in advance.

    Reimbursement policy. Please be advised that according to U.S. immigration laws, individuals who enter the U.S. and wish to be reimbursed for travel related expenses should enter only on a B-1, WB or J-1 visa (WT and B-2 visa do not permit reimbursement of any expenses). Individuals who enter via automobile from Canada or Mexico should enter on a J-visa. Entering on a Visa Waiver is discouraged due to concerns as to how the new law will be interpreted. Canadian visitors are not required to have an I-94 when entering the country.

    NSF funds can be used for reimbursement of air fare only if a U.S. flag carrier (i.e. a U.S. airline) has been used.

    Upon arriving, please see the staff person at the registration desk for the necessary forms to be filled out and returned prior to your departure. We will need all original receipts for any expenses for which reimbursement is claimed and copies of your visa if applicable.

    Accommodation

    Rooms have been reserved in the following hotels (in alphabetical order). The quoted rates below may not include a 14.25% state and city tax. When you make the reservation for your room, please mention the ``East Coast Operator Algebras Symposium'' (or ECOAS). Many of the rooms are doubles and can be shared. Since we have reserved only a limited number of rooms in each hotel, we recommend that you make your reservations as soon as possible in the hotel of your choice.

    Other nearby hotels include:

    Travel Information

    Follow the links below for directions, maps, information regarding parking etc..

    Organizing Committee

    Dietmar Bisch (Vanderbilt University), Bruce Hughes (Vanderbilt University), Gennadi Kasparov (Vanderbilt University) and Guoliang Yu (Vanderbilt University).

    Scientific Advisory Committee

    Dietmar Bisch (Vanderbilt University), Marius Dadarlat (Purdue University), Nigel Higson (Penn State University) and Dirk Kreimer (IHES & Boston University).

    Sponsors

    The symposium is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, the Shanks foundation and the department of mathematics at Vanderbilt University.

    First announcement (flyer): Click here to download a simple flyer announcing the symposium (pdf file, 32kb).

    Further Information

    Further information may be obtained from the following sources.
    Email: email Organizing Committee
    Web: http://www.math.vanderbilt.edu/~ecoas03/
    Regular mail:ECOAS 2003
    Department of Mathematics, SC 1326
    Vanderbilt University
    Nashville, TN 37240, USA
    Phone: (615) 322-6672 (Department of Mathematics)
    Fax: (615) 343-0215
    Contact Person: email Geneva Shilliday, (615) 322-4163

    Last update 9/22/03.