The Sixth Subhashis Nag Memorial Endowment Lecture will be delivered by Professor Robert C. Penner, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, as per the details given below:
| Speaker: | Professor R. C. Penner |
| University of Southern California, Los Angeles | |
| Title: | From punctured surfaces to punctured solenoids |
| Date/time: | Wednesday, 2nd January, 2008 at 16:00 |
| Venue: | Ramanujan Auditorium |
Abstract: The study of geometric structures on a fixed closed two-dimensional surface is rich, deep, and of ongoing interest. Dennis Sullivan introduced a universal object, called the solenoid, whose geometric structures at once capture and generalize those of any given surface, and in fact, this solenoid played a central role in Subhashis Nag's research. Recently in joint work with Dragomir Saric, we have considered an analogous solenoid corresponding to surfaces with punctures and have found a comparatively simple and essentially combinatorial description of its geometry. We shall explain the background of geometric structures on punctured surfaces and how it naturally extends to this punctured solenoid.
About the speaker Professor Robert Penner received his Ph.D. in 1982 from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, where he wrote his thesis under the guidance of James R. Munkres. After his early work in the areas of low-dimensional topology and dynamical system, his interest turned to geometry. He developed the theory of decorated Teichm\"uller spaces and applied it to various problems in geometry and string theory.
Professor Penner will be in residence at the Institute during the period
31st December 2007 to 9th January 2008.
About The Subhashis Nag Memorial Endowment Lectures:
Subhashis Nag Memorial Endowment Lectures was instituted in the year 2002
through the generous contribution of Mrs Sutapa Nag, widow of
Prof. Subhashis Nag. It aims to promote research in mathematical
sciences by inviting to the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai,
an eminent mathematical scientist, one each year, to deliver a series of
lectures. The first of these lectures will be designated
the Subhashis Nag Memorial Endowment Lecture.
About Prof. Subhashis Nag:
Professor Subhashis Nag was born on 14th August 1955. He obtained his
Ph.D. from Cornell University, New York. He
joined the Institute of Mathematical Sciences
in 1991. He worked in the area of complex analytic geometry, particularly,
Teichmüller theory and its relations to string theory.
He won the coveted S.S.Bhatnagar award but,
unfortunately, he died, on 22nd December 1998, before the actual award
ceremony.
List of speakers in the previous years: (Click on the topic for the transcripts of the talks.)
| Date | Speaker | Title |
| 23/12/2002 | Dr. Dennis P.Sullivan | String topology |
| Einstein Chair, | ||
| CUNY Graduate Center, | ||
| New York,NY, USA. | ||
| 29/12/2003 | Dr. Ashoke Sen | Search for a unified theory |
| Harish-Chandra Research Institute | ||
| Allahabad. | ||
| 10/01/2005 | Dr. Clifford Earle | Variation of conformal invariants under holomorphic motioin |
| Cornell University | ||
| Ithaca, NY. | ||
| 09/12/05 | Dr. Bernard de Wit | Black hole entropy from M-theory and supergravity |
| Utrecht University, | ||
| Utrecht, The Netherlands | ||
| 25/01/07 | Dr. M. S. Narasimhan | Conformal blocks and generalized theta functions |
| IISc, Bangalore |
Contact:
Parameswaran Sankaran
Institute of Mathematical Sciences
CIT Campus, Taramani
Chennai
email: sankaran AT imsc.res.in