Conference in Honor of Ronald Fintushel

摘要奖：DMS-0506737首席研究员：Thomas Mark，Scott J.Baldridge，Terry Lawson这项提议为纪念RonaldFintushel教授六十岁生日的会议提供资金，会议将于2005年10月下旬或11月在杜兰大学举行。Fintushel博士在低维拓扑学，特别是三维和四维流形的微分拓扑学以及规范理论在这项研究中的应用方面有着独特的职业生涯。他与多位作者在低维流形上的群作用方面的工作，以及最近与Ronald Stern在同调3-球面的同调余边群、规范理论和“奇异”4-流形的构造方面的结果，一直是当代拓扑学家的灵感，并继续为这些领域的研究提供新的方向。在过去的二十年里，低维拓扑学取得了显著的进展，尤其是光滑四维流形理论。这一领域的领军人物参加的这次会议将为与会者提供一个了解最新进展的背景和一个未来努力的框架。演讲者将包括芬图舍尔贡献的领域的专家，重点是流畅的4-流形，听众将包括应届毕业生和新近获得博士学位的S，他们将受益于芬图舍尔引人入胜的创造性工作。罗纳德·斯特恩(加州大学欧文分校)和彼得·奥兹瓦特(哥伦比亚大学)都表示有兴趣演讲；其他受邀演讲者可能包括约翰·摩根(哥伦比亚大学)、托马斯·莫罗卡(麻省理工学院)、艾伦·埃德蒙兹(印第安纳大学)、丹尼·鲁伯曼(布兰迪斯大学)、佐尔坦·萨博(普林斯顿大学)和克利福德·陶布斯(哈佛大学)。最终的日程安排将在接近会议时间的时候与芬图谢尔博士协商确定；嘉宾的影响往往会左右演讲者出席决定的平衡。作为一次纪念个人的会议，讲座自然会集中在受个人影响最大的研究领域。芬图舍尔博士在数学领域做出了许多贡献，这个领域在数学和理论物理领域都是最近才成为各学科的十字路口。因此，这样的会议变得越来越重要，为研究人员提供了关于问题的各种观点，但这些问题仍因共同的主题而团结在一起。作为杜兰大学、东南部路易斯安那大学和路易斯安那州立大学的联合项目，本次会议将为这些数学系提供全国性的曝光，并促进该地区作为研究中心的地位。这将增加这一领域的大学吸引更多来自全国各地的高素质教师和学生的潜力。同样，会议将增加当地应届毕业生对研究的最新发展和研究人员本身的接触。

AbstractAward: DMS-0506737Principal Investigator: Thomas Mark, Scott J. Baldridge, Terry LawsonThis proposal funds a conference in honor of Professor RonaldFintushel's sixtieth birthday, to be held in late October or November2005 at Tulane University. Dr. Fintushel has led a distinguishedcareer as a researcher in low-dimensional topology, particularly thedifferential topology of 3- and 4-dimensional manifolds andapplications of gauge theory to that study. His work with variousco-authors on group actions on low-dimensional manifolds, and morerecent results with Ronald Stern on the homology cobordism group ofhomology 3-spheres, gauge theory, and constructions of ``exotic''4-manifolds, has been an inspiration to contemporary topologists andcontinues to provide new directions for inquiry in these areas. Thepast two decades have been a period of remarkable progress inlow-dimensional topology, particularly the theory of smooth4-manifolds. This conference, involving leading figures in this area,will provide participants with both a context in which to understandrecent advances and a framework for future endeavors. The speakerswill include experts in fields that Fintushel has contributed to, witha focus on smooth 4-manifolds, and the audience will include graduatestudents and recent Ph.D.'s who will benefit from exposure toFintushel's fascinating and creative work. Both Ronald Stern (UCIrvine) and Peter Ozsvath (Columbia) have already expressed interestin giving lectures; other invited speakers may include John Morgan(Columbia), Tomasz Mrowka (MIT), Allan Edmonds (Indiana), DannyRuberman (Brandeis), Zoltan Szabo (Princeton), and Clifford Taubes(Harvard). The final schedule will be determined closer to the time ofthe conference in consultation with Dr. Fintushel; the influence ofthe guest of honor can often sway the balance in a speaker's decisionto attend.As a conference in honor of an individual, the lectures will naturallycenter on those areas of research most influenced by thatindividual. Dr. Fintushel has made many contributions to an area ofmathematics that has relatively recently become a crossroads amongdisciplines, both within mathematics and in theoreticalphysics. Conferences such as this are therefore increasinglyimportant, providing researchers with a variety of perspectives onproblems that are nevertheless united by common themes. As a jointproject of Tulane University, Southeastern Louisiana University, andLouisiana State University, this conference will provide exposure forthese mathematics departments on a national level and boost thereputation of the region as a center of research. This will increasethe potential for the universities in this area to attract morehigh-quality faculty and students from around the country. Likewise,the conference will enhance the exposure of local current graduatestudents to the latest developments in research and to the researchersthemselves.