Workshop Announcement: ---------------------------------------------------------------- Compact moduli spaces and birational geometry ---------------------------------------------------------------- December 6 to December 10, 2004 American Institute of Mathematics Research Conference Center Palo Alto, California http://aimath.org/ARCC/workshops/birational.html ------------ Description: ------------ This workshop, sponsored by AIM and the NSF, will be devoted to the study of compact moduli spaces, especially those inspired by the minimal model program. Perhaps the first example is the Deligne/Mumford compactification of the moduli space of stable curves, where the limiting curves are dictated by the structure of canonical models for surfaces fibered over curves. This was extended to surfaces by Koll'ar/Shepherd-Barron and Alexeev, which led to work of Corti, Hacking, Tevelev/Keel, Alexeev, and others, where birational geometry inspired the choice of limiting objects, and sometimes played a role in constructing moduli spaces. The main goals of this workshop are: to promote cross-fertilization by bringing together specialists in birational geometry and moduli theory; to make the techniques of the field more widely-known and accessible; and to identify concrete, tractable questions for young researchers entering the area. The workshop is organized by Brendan Hassett and S'andor Kov'acs. For more details please see the workshop announcement page: http://aimath.org/ARCC/workshops/birational.html Space and funding is available for a few more participants. If you would like to participate, please apply by filling out the on-line form (available at the link above) no later than September 20, 2004. Applications are open to all, and we especially encourage women, underrepresented minorities, junior mathematicians, and researchers from primarily undergraduate institutions to apply. Before submitting an application, please read the ARCC policies concerning participation and financial support for participants. -------------------------------------- AIM Research Conference Center (ARCC): -------------------------------------- The AIM Research Conference Center (ARCC) hosts focused workshops in all areas of the mathematical sciences. ARCC focused workshops are distinguished by their emphasis on a specific mathematical goal, such as making progress on a significant unsolved problem, understanding the proof of an important new result, or investigating the convergence between two distinct areas of mathematics. For more information about ARCC, please visit http://www.aimath.org/ARCC/