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La 85e Rencontre entre mathématiciens et physiciens théoriciens aura lieu à l'IRMA, du 10 au 12 juin 2010, sur le thème : "Aspects géométriques et probabilistes de la théorie de la relativité".

The 85th Encounter between Mathematicians and Theoretical Physicists will take place at Institut de Recherche Mathématique Avancée (University of Strasbourg and CNRS) on June 10-12, 2010. The theme will be : "Geometric and Probabilistic aspects of General Relativity".

Organizers : Jacques Franchi and Athanase Papadopoulos.

All talks will be in english.

List of participants :

Registration is required (and free of charge).

Contact : J. Franchi and A. Papadopoulos

Affiche de la conférence

  • Jeudi 10 juin 2010

  • 09:00 - 10:00

    Helmut Goenner, Göttingen

    Probability and geometry : A poor man’s view

    The concepts of probability and geometry meet in many areas of physics and mathematics ; their range extends from the statistical mechanics of black holes to stochastic analysis on path spaces. The focus of my review talk is on relativistic diffusion, Brownian motion and kinetic theory. While the emphasis is put on physical applications, I will try to also describe some of the conceptual and technical generalizations investigated by mathematicians.
  • 10:00 - 10:30

    Tea and coffee break
  • 10:30 - 11:30

    Mauro Carfora, Pavia

    Ricci flow and Einstein Equations

    Ricci flow theory has a number of applications in general relativity, ranging from deformations of initial data sets for Einstein equations to black hole physics. In this talk I review at an introductory level some aspects of such an interaction with emphasis on open mathematical and physical problems.
  • 11:30 - 12:30

    Helmut Friedrich, Golm-Potsdam

    On the asymptotic structure of gravitational fields

  • 12:30 - 14:30

    Free time for lunch
  • 14:30 - 15:30

    Mark Heinzle, Vienna

    Probabilistic aspects of spacelike singularities in General Relativity

  • 15:30 - 16:30

    Fabrice Debbasch, Paris 6

    Averaging classical relativistic gravitation

    General Relativity is a non linear theory of non quantum gravitation. Averaging a relativistic gravitational field is thus a highly non trivial operation. I will start by presenting the basics of the first general mean field theory of classical relativistic gravitation proposed in 2004, and I will go on by adressing applications to black hole physics and cosmology. In particular I will show that at least part of black hole thermodynamics can thus be understood in a completely novel manner and that the theory also sheds new light on the cosmological back reaction problem.
  • 16:30 - 17:00

    Tea and coffee break
  • 17:00 - 18:00

    Ismael Bailleul, Cambridge

    Lifetime of relativistic diffusions

  • 19:30 - 22:00

    Dinner at the Restaurant "Le petit bois vert", 2 quai de la Bruche, Strasbourg ; offered to the participants.
  • Vendredi 11 juin 2010

  • 09:00 - 10:00

    Ramesh Sharma, New Haven

    Weyl Curvature and Spatial Isotropy of Synchronous Spacetimes

    We consider synchronous space-time cosmological models (M,g) with space-like slices having pure trace extrinsic curvature and show that
    (i) the electric part of the Weyl tensor of g vanishes if and only if each slice is Einstein, and
    (ii) the full Weyl curvature of g vanishes if and only if each slice has constant curvature i.e. (M,g) is spatially isotropic.
    We also indicate a relationship of the result (ii) with Penroses’s Weyl curvature hypothesis.
  • 10:00 - 10:30

    Tea and coffee break
  • 10:30 - 11:30

    Niall O'murchadha, Cork

    Gravity on conformal superspace

    The standard method of solving the Einstein constraints on a compact manifold involves specifying a base 3-metric, a TT (transverse-tracefree) metric relative to this metric, and a constant, which is the trace of the extrinsic curvature. These are the input into the Lichnerowicz-York (L -Y) equation, a nice elliptic equation, the solution of which is a conformal factor which is used to construct a CMC (constant mean curvature) solution to the Einstein constraints. This structure is conformally covariant, so the base 3-metric can be regarded as a representative of a conformal 3-geometry. A count of the degrees of freedom gives 2 per space point in the conformal 3-geometry, 2 per space point in the TT tensor (which can be regarded as a velocity of the conformal geometry), and one extra constant ( the value of the trace of K). A newly discovered symmetry of the L- Y equation allows us to remove this Trace K degree of freedom, thus returning the degrees of freedom to exactly the expected 2 + 2 per space point. Therefore, given a point and a velocity in conformal superspace, the Einstein equations generate a unique curve in conformal superspace.
  • 11:30 - 12:30

    Jérôme Martin, IAP, Paris

    Inflation: theoretical aspects and observational status

  • 12:30 - 14:00

    Free time for lunch
  • 14:00 - 15:00

    Nadav Drukker, Berlin

    Dualities of supersymmetric field theories, curves on Riemann surfaces and Dehn’s theorem

  • 16:00 - 17:30

    Departure for touristic boat tour around the old city (offered to the participants)
  • 17:30 - 18:30

    Reception-appetizer at the Mairie (City Hall), place Broglie (offered to the participants).
  • Samedi 12 juin 2010

  • 09:00 - 09:30

    Coffee and tea.
  • 09:30 - 10:30

    Christos Charmoussis, Paris Sud

    Higher order gravity theories and their geometric origin

    We will review gravity theories stemming from Lovelock's theorem.
    We will study their basic properties and discuss their geometric origin.
    We will then discuss Birkhoff's theorem in this context and give the relevant black hole and soliton solutions.
    We will apply these backgrounds and to braneworld cosmology in order to find the modified Friedmann equations for a codimension 2 braneworld.
  • 10:30 - 11:30

    Vladimir Matveev, Jena

    Can one reconstruct a metric by unparameterized geodesics ?

    I will explain that certain astronomic observations allow to determine unparameterized geodesics of the space-time metric only. This naturally leads to the following mathematical problem explicitly asked by Weyl and Ehlers : how to determine the metric by unparameterized geodesics. I will show that generally the problem is not solvable (by showing examples of Lagrange and Levi-Civita of two different metrics with the same geodesics). The main mathematical theorem of my talk (I will give a rigorous proofwill be that 4D Einstein metrics of non constant curvature are geodesically rigidin the sense that unparameterized geodesics determine such metrics uniquelyThis result is joint with VKiosakI will also explain that in the generic situation unparameterized geodesics determine the metricand give a algorithm how to reconstruct a Ricci-flat 4D metric by unparameterized geodesics. In the rest of my talk I discuss metrics with other stress-energy tensor.