Special holonomy and branes

Special holonomy and branes

This workshop, sponsored by AIM and the NSF, will be devoted to bringing together physicists and mathematicians to concentrate on a variety of problems concerning special holonomy compactifications of M-theory. There are a number of 'special' geometries on low dimensional manifolds. The investigation of spaces carrying these geometries, and of the distinguished cycles within these spaces, plays an important role in the development of physical models and leads to numerous mathematical challenges. One area of particular interest is the class of seven-dimensional manifolds with $G_2$ holonomy, or more simply $G_2$ manifolds. These give rise to four-dimensional theories with minimal supersymmetry - a class of models with interesting applications to particle physics, as well as conceptual significance in studying the structure of gauge theories, and in particular conformal field theories.

Another goal is the consolidation of our understanding of the moduli of gravitational instantons in four dimensions, and subsequently the search for analogues of these instantons in higher dimensions, their distinguished cycles, and the moduli of these objects.

This event will be run as an AIM-style workshop. 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 the schedule will include discussion and parallel working sessions.

The deadline to apply for support to participate in this workshop has passed.

For more information email workshops@aimath.org

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