Recent Progress on the Moduli Space of Curves (08w5086)

Enumerative geometry has roots going back to the ancient Greeks. A thorough understanding of the intersection properties of special geometric spaces is crucial to the “modern” approach to enumerative (counting) problems in geometry. Some of the most important, and still most mysterious, of these are the spaces of algebraic curves. New insights inspired by string theory have led to recent breakthroughs in the study of the intersections properties of the spaces of algebraic curves. In this workshop at BIRS, March 16-21, 2008, experts and students will gather to discuss the recent developments and explore their consequences.

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 US National Science Foundation (NSF), Alberta's Advanced Education and Technology, and Mexico's Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologí­a (CONACYT).