Mirror Symmetry in the Midwest Conference to be held at Kansas State University; Winter, 2011

11月3-6日，堪萨斯州立大学将举办一场名为《中西部的镜面对称》的会议。镜像对称性是一个令人兴奋且发展迅速的领域，它涉及某些Calabi-Yau流形的复几何和辛几何之间的对偶性。在过去的二十年里，对镜像对称基本原理的探索推动了辛几何和复/代数几何的大量研究。许多用于研究镜面对称性的想法和技术本身已经成为有趣的研究领域。例如Gromov-Witten理论、Floer理论、Fukaya范畴、派生范畴、拉格朗日环面颤动、特殊拉格朗日几何、Donaldson-Thomas不变量和热带几何。涉及的想法的广度和对这一主题的许多方法使其成为合作的沃土。这次会议将通过聚集研究镜像对称的各种几何和代数方面的研究人员来利用这一点。会议的目标是通过开放和加强研究人员之间的沟通渠道，找到合作的领域，并教育参与者来促进镜像对称。为了实现这些目标，会议将有几个重要特点。为了促进教育目标，会议将开设一个迷你课程，旨在向与会者提供高水平但非专家级别的特定主题的教育。作为一种教育体验和寻找合作领域的机会，这个小型课程对研究生和更多的高级参与者都是有用的。将有一个海报展示环节，让研究生们展示他们的作品。这将为年轻研究人员提供与更多资深研究人员交流的机会，并将为知识转移提供极好的机会。这次会议的与会者将是镜面对称的几何和代数方面的专家，因此将提供一个机会来寻找整合不同想法的方法。最后，镜像对称性起源于弦理论和高能物理，今天是理论物理的一个重要分支。这次会议将邀请数学家和物理学家参加，从而加强两者之间的交流。更多信息请访问会议website:http://www.math.ksu.edu/~galston/conference/

A conference entitled "Mirror Symmetry in the Midwest" will be held November 3-6 at Kansas State University. Mirror symmetry is an exciting and rapidly developing field that is concerned with duality between the complex and symplectic geometry of certain Calabi-Yau manifolds. The search for the underlying principles at work in mirror symmetry has driven a great deal of the research in symplectic and complex/algebraic geometry over the past two decades. Many of the ideas and techniques used to study mirror symmetry have become interesting areas of research in their own right. Examples include Gromov-Witten theory, Floer theory, Fukaya categories, derived categories, Lagrangian torus fibrations, special Lagrangian geometry, Donaldson-Thomas invariants, and tropical geometry. The breadth of ideas involved and number of approaches to the subject make it fertile ground for collaboration. The conference will exploit this by bringing together researchers studying a wide variety of the geometric and algebraic aspects of mirror symmetry.The goal of the conference is to advance mirror symmetry by opening and strengthening lines of communications between researchers, finding areas for collaboration, and educating participants. The conference will have several important features in order to achieve these goals. To further the educational aims, the conference will feature a mini-course designed to educate participants on a particular topic at a high but non-expert level. The mini-course will be useful to graduate students as well as to more senior participants, both as an educational experience and as an opportunity to find areas for collaboration. There will be a poster session that will allow graduate students to show off their work. This will provide an opportunity for young researchers to communicate with more senior researchers and will provide an excellent opportunity for the transfer of knowledge. The conference will feature participants who are experts in both geometric and algebraic aspects of mirror symmetry and thus will provide an opportunity to find ways to integrate diverse ideas. Finally, mirror symmetry has its roots in string theory and high energy physics and today is an important branch of theoretical physics. The conference will increase communication between mathematicians and physicists by inviting both types of people to attend.More information can be found on the conference website:http://www.math.ksu.edu/~galston/conference/