Objective
The primary aim of the project is to establish a network of thirteen institutions, each containing small to medium size research groups of theoretical and mathematical physicists, sharing a common purpose but possessing complementary expertise. The common purpose lies in seeking a unified description of all the fundamental forces of nature, and a shared expectation that this will emerge from string theory. The complementary expertise lies in the major sub-fields of conformal field theory; integrable quantum field theories and their relationship to models of statistical mechanical systems; matrix models, topological field theory, low-dimensional gravity and their relationships to string theory; the representation theory of Kac-Moody, Virasoro and W-algebras; the development of the theory of quantum groups and their representation theory. All of these are studied at one or more nodes of the network. Key ideas are expected to come from broadly educated younger members of the community, and the network will foster the training of young people.
A network of institutions has been established, each containing small to medium size research groups of theoretical and mathematical physicists, sharing a common purpose but possessing complementary expertise. The common purpose lies in seeking a unified description of all the fundamental forces of nature, and a shared expectation that this will emerge from string theory. The complementary expertise lies in the major subfields of conformal field theory; integrable quantum field theories and their relationship to models of statistical mechanical systems; matrix models, topological field theory, low dimensional gravity and their relationships to string theory; the representation theory of Kac-Moody, Virasoro and W-algebras; the development of the theory of quantum groups and their representation theory. Progress has been made in several directions, particularly in 2-dimensional gravity, the discovery of hidden symmetries in reductions of Einstein's theory, in the application of W-symmetry to the quantum Hall effect, in the exploration of soliton and other solutions in Toda field theory, the study of N=2 conformal field theories, development of the Bethe ansatz technique and in the study of quantum groups including the deformed Poincare algebra.
Fields of science
Topic(s)
Data not availableCall for proposal
Data not availableFunding Scheme
CSC - Cost-sharing contractsCoordinator
DH1 3LE Durham
United Kingdom
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Participants (12)
Madrid
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75231 Paris
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91191 Gif-sur-yvette
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50125 Firenze
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WC2R 2LS London
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Bonn
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1211 Geneve
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SA2 8PP Swansea
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22761 Hamburg
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7000 Mons
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751 21 Uppsala
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69364 Lyon
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