Combinatorial Nonpositive Curvature (24w5179)

The Banff International Research Station will host the “Combinatorial Nonpositive Curvature” workshop in Banff from September 1 - 6, 2024.

The curvature is a measure of how bent a shape is. For example, the surface of a ball has positive curvature, a flat plane has zero curvature, and the surface of a Pringle chip has negative curvature. Combinatorial nonpositive curvature refers to easily computable notions capturing certain aspects of the former two examples. There is a strong connection between the curvature of an object, and the algebraic structure of the group of its symmetries. The workshop will focus on recent developments and future directions in the study of combinatorial nonpositive curvature.

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).