Conference Travel: Automorphisms of Free Groups: Algorithms, Geometry and Dynamics

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During Fall 2012 there will be a semester-long special program entitled "Free Groups: Algorithms, Geometry and Dynamics" held at the Centre de Recerca Matemàtica (CRM) in Barcelona, Spain. There will be two focused events, (1) a series of advanced courses primarily aimed at graduate students and postdocs tentatively set for the week of September 17-21 and (2) an international conference tentatively set for the week of November 26-30. There has been lately a flurry of activity surrounding the group of outer automorphisms of a free group. During this exciting time in its development, the advanced courses will be aimed to attract future researchers, and to prepare them to attend the subsequent international conference. Postdocs and more advanced graduate students will also be invited to give presentations on their own work. The international conference will bring together many of the top experts, primarily from North America and Europe, to give talks on their research, to share ideas, and to initiate new projects.Humans are naturally attracted to symmetry, be it a regular hexagonal pattern in a honeycomb, a clever rhyme scheme of a poem or the beautiful tilings in the Alhambra. The symmetries of an object are often the first properties we look for when we encounter something for the first time and try to understand it. A group is a mathematician?s way of defining and thinking about symmetry. Just as a thorough investigation of the integers is important to understand the rational numbers because every rational number is the quotient of two integers, a thorough investigation of free groups is important to understand groups because every group is the quotient of two free groups. Symmetries of free groups are the focus of this international conference and the of advanced courses. Leading mathematicians will be at the conference to discuss current progress in this area and to train younger researchers. Instructors for the advanced courses will prepare notes that will be bounded and subsequently published. More information can be found at the website for the CRM http://www.crm.es and at the conference webiste http://www.crm.es/Activitats/Activitats/2012-2013/Automorphisms/default.htm