Holomorphic Curves in Contact Geometry

August 4 to 9, 2003

at the

American Institute of Mathematics, Palo Alto, California

organized by

Yasha Eliashberg and John Etnyre

This workshop, sponsored by AIM and the NSF, will be devoted to the development of holomorphic curve techniques in contact geometry and topology. The advent of holomorphic curve techniques in contact topology, as exemplified in Symplectic Field Theory (SFT), and asymptotically holomorphic curve techniques, in the spirit of Donaldson, has allowed one to use a diverse set of geometric, analytic and topological tools when studying contact structures. The goal of this workshop is to expose, develop and apply these tools.

The workshop will bring together researchers in contact and symplectic geometry, dynamics, low-dimensional topology and physics, who will explore connections between the various approaches people have taken to using holomorphic curves, develop new holomorphic curve techniques and apply them to various questions in contact and symplectic geometry and low-dimensional topology.

The main questions to be addressed concern

The workshop will differ from typical conferences in some regards. Participants will be invited to suggest open problems and questions before the workshop begins, and these will be posted on the workshop website. These include specific problems on which there is hope of making some progress during the workshop, as well as more ambitious problems which may influence the future activity of the field. Lectures at the workshop will be focused on familiarizing the participants with the background material leading up to specific problems, and there will be ample time between talks for discussions and for work to be done.

The application deadline for participation in this workshop has passed.


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