Dear all,
There are quite a few events in the near future related to mathematical relativity here at UTK. (See calendar below.) If you would like more information please don't hesitate to contact me.
Best regards,
Fernando Schwartz
Assistant Professor
Mathematics Department
http://www.math.utk.edu/~fernando
Talks/Conferences:
--------------------------
1. Friday 4/16 3:30pm, HBB 112: "Black Holes, the Big Bang, and the Cosmic Censor," mathematics colloquium talk by Jim Isenberg (U Oregon). Abstract on bottom of email.
2. Friday 4/23 3:30pm, HBB 112: (differential geometry) "The Aleksandrov problem and optimal transport on $S^n$," mathematics colloquium by Vladimir Oliker (Emory).
3. Dec. 13, 2010, @ Math Department: Southeast Geometry Seminar. This one-day conference (open to all) will host lectures in mathematical relativity by Spyros Alexakis (U Toronto), Hubert Bray (Duke) and Catherine Williams (Stanford), including a general audience talk by Hubert Bray. Also invited to talk are Simon Brendle (Stanford) and Alessio Figalli (U Texas, Austin), who will give talks in differential geometry.
4. May 11-13, 2011: Barrett Lectures in Mathematical Relativity. Conference organized by the math department will host world experts in relativity including Igor Rodnianski (Princeton), Rick Schoen (Stanford) and Robert Wald (U Chicago).
Courses:
------------
Fall 2010, Math 667: Topics in Mathematical Relativity I
Spring 2011, Math 668: Topics in Mathematical Relativity II
In this course sequence (taught by Fernando Schwartz), we will go over Robert Wald's book "General Relativity."
------------
Abstract for J. Isenberg's talk:
Einstein's theory of general relativity predicts that in universes like ours, breakdowns in the physics (know as "singularities") generally develop, both on the cosmological and on the astrophysical scale. What we don't yet know is what the nature of those singularities is likely to be. Generally speaking, the singularities come in two types: the sort that involve everything being crushed in huge gravitational fields, and the sort that involve the breaking down of physical determinism. Which should we expect?
Roger Penrose has conjectured that only in very special cases does the evolving gravitational field force a breakdown in physical determinism. Generally, he suggests, we all get crushed. He has also conjectured that in almost all cases, when an astrophysical singularity forms, it is contained inside a black hole. These ideas have been called the Cosmic Censorship conjectures. We present some of the history of these conjectures, and we discuss some of the recent mathematical evidence that the Cosmic Censorship conjectures are true.
|