Workshop on Topological Strings

January 10 - 14, 2005, The Fields Institute

Location: Fields Institute, Room 230

Description

Topological string theory is currently a very active field of research for both mathematicians and physicists --- in mathematics, it leads to new relations between symplectic topology, algebraic geometry and combinatorics, and in physics, it is a laboratory for the study of basic features of string theory, such as background independence, open/closed string duality, non-perturbative completion, as well as an effective framework for computing spectra and interactions in full-fledged string compactifications.

This workshop will bring together a range of experts on different aspects of topological string theory from both the mathematics and physics communities.

Guest Speakers:

Mina Aganagic, UC Berkeley
Jim Bryan, University of British Columbia
Cheol-Hyun Cho, Northwestern University
Costello, Kevin J, Imperial College London
Robbert Dijkgraaf, Institute for Theoretical Physics, Amsterdam
Duiliu Emanuel Diaconescu, Rutgers University
Alexander Givental, University of California at Berkeley
Eleny-Nicoleta Ionel, Stanford University
Bumsig Kim, Korea Institute for Advanced Study
Yon Seo Kim, UCLA
Albrecht Klemm, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Yuan-Pin Lee, University of Utah
Jun Li, Stanford University
Andrei Losev, ITEP, Moskow
Yong-Geun Oh, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Andrei Okounkov, Princeton University
Takuya Okuda, California Institute of Technology
Hirosi Ooguri, California Institute of Technology
Pan Peng, UCLA
Nicolai Reshetikhin, UC Berkeley
Lev Rozansky, University of North Carolina
Richard Thomas, Imperial College
Cumrun Vafa, Harvard University

Schedule

Monday, January 10th, 2005
09:30 to 10:00	Coffee and Registration
10:00 to 11:00	Overview of Gromov-Witten/ Donaldson-Thomas correspondence Andrei Okuonkov, Princeton University
13:00 to 14:30	Topological M-theory, Part I Cumrun Vafa, Harvard University
14:30 to 15:00	Tea Break
14:50 to 15:50	Black holes, quantum Yang-Mills theory and non-perturbative topological strings Mina Aganagic, University of California Berkeley
16:10 to 17:10	Relative stable maps and topological vertex Jun Li, Stanford University
17:10 to 17:30	Break
17:30 to 18:10	Computing Hodge integrals with one lambda class Yon Seo Kim, University of California, Los Angeles
18:10	Reception

Tuesday, January 11th, 2005
09:30 to 10:30	Quantum Riemann-Roch for orbifolds and Bernoulli polynomials (after Hsian-Hua Tseng) Alexander Givental, Budapest Univ. of Technology and Economics and University of California Berkeley
10:30 to 11:00	Coffee Break
11:00 to 12:00	Topological theories on a 2d world-sheet foam Lev Rozansky, University of North Carolina
12:00 to 13:30	Lunch Break
13:30 to 15:00	Black holes and topological string theory Hirosi Ooguri, California Institute of Technology
15:00 to 15:30	Tea Break
15:30 to 16:30	Generalization of Hori-Vafa conjecture Bumsig Kim, Korea Institute for Advanced Study
16:30 to 17:00	Break
17:00 to 18:00	Open/closed string duality for topological gravity with matter Albrecht Klemm, University of Wisconsin–Madison

Wednesday, January 12th, 2005
10:00 to 11:00	Quantum cohomology of the Hilbert scheme Andrei Okuonkov, Princeton University
11:00 to 11:30	Coffee Break
11:30 to 12:30	The local Gromov-Witten theory of curves Jim Bryan, University of British Columbia
12:30 to 14:00	Lunch Break
14:00 to 15:00	A-infinity structure of open-closed map in A-model Cheol-Hyun Cho, Northwestern University
15:00 to 15:30	Tea Break
15:30 to 16:30	Homological algebra, BV formalizm and (topological) string theory Andrei Losev
16:30 to 17:10	Break
17:10 to 18:10	Topological conformal field theories and Calabi-Yau categories Kevin Costello, Northwestern University and Perimeter Institute

Thursday, January 13th, 2005
10:00 to 11:00	Hirzebruch-Riemann-Roch in Quantum cobordism theory Alexander Givental, Budapest Univ. of Technology and Economics and University of California Berkeley
11:00 to 11:30	Coffee Break
11:30 to 12:30	Compactification of the moduli space of holomorphic maps with prescribed singularities Yong-Geon Oh, University of Wisconsin–Madison
12:30 to 14:00	Lunch Break
14:00 to 15:00	Topological M-theory, Part II Robbert Dijkgraaf, Institute for Advanced Studies
15:00 to 15:30	Tea Break
15:30 to 16:30	Invariance of tautological equations Yuan-Pin Lee, University of Utah
16:30 to 17:00	Break
17:00 to 18:00	Geometric Transitions and Integrable Systems Duiliu E. Diaconescu, Rutgers University and University of Alberta

Friday, January 14th, 2005
09:30 to 10:30	Limit shapes of fluctuating surfaces Nicolai Reshetikhin, University of California Berkeley
10:30 to 10:50	Coffee Break
10:50 to 11:50	Embedded curves and the Gromow-Witten invariants of 3-folds Eleny-Nicoleta Ionel, Stanford University
11:50 to 13:10	Lunch Break
13:10 to 14:10	Constant scalar curvature Kähler metrics and stability of algebraic varieties Eleny-Nicoleta Ionel, Stanford University
14:10 to 14:30	Tea Break
14:30 to 15:10	Calabi-Yau Crystals from Chern-Simons Gauge Theory Takuya Okuda, California Institute of Technology
15:10 to 15:40	Break
15:30 to 16:10	Integrality of the Gopakumar-Vafa invariants on toric Calabi-Yau Pan Peng