Compact moduli spaces and birational geometry
December 6 to December 10, 2004
AIM Research Conference Center, Palo Alto, CA

Organizers:
Brendan Hassett and S'andor Kov'acs

Workshop topics:
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. 

Application deadline:
September 20, 2004  

For more information:
http://aimath.org/ARCC/workshops/birational.html