Conformal Geodesics (23frg005)

The Banff International Research Station will host the "Conformal Geodesics" workshop in Banff from August 27 to September 1, 2023.

It is interesting to ask what properties of space (in geometry), or space--time (in physics) are affected by introducing a stretching which varies between the points of space. It turns out that stretching the intervals through the space--time does not change the light cones, and stretching the space preserves the angles. The branch of mathematics which is concerned with the properties invariant under stretching is called conformal geometry.

It turns out (and came as a surprise) that although the notion of distance does not exist in geometry, there are nevertheless analogs of straight or shortest lines. These conformal curves will be the subject of the focused research.

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. BIRS 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).