Mathematical Sciences: Geometry and Topology of Surfaces

罗伯特·彭纳正在研究与粒子物理学有关的几何拓扑问题。有一个高度发达的，本质上是组合的，关于穿孔黎曼曲面的共形类的理论。最近的一些工作立刻提出了解决Teichmuller理论和映射类群理论中老问题的新方法。此外，这些新结果与高能物理弦理论中的几个核心问题之间存在着大量的相互作用。这第二个接口可能应该被视为一个共同开发而不是一个应用程序。

Robert Penner is studying geometric topological problems with implications for particle physics. There is a highly developed, essentially combinatorial, theory of conformal classes of punctured Riemann surfaces. Some recent work at once suggests new approaches to old problems in the Teichmuller theory and in the theory of the mapping class group. Furthermore, there is a great deal of interplay between these new results and several central problems in the string theory of high energy physics. This second interface should probably be regarded as one of co- development rather than one of application.