ICM98-CL2: chairman of the ICM98 program committee/ICM98 Sections
TO ALL MATHEMATICIANS WHO HAVE PRELIMINARILY PREREGISTERED FOR
THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF MATHEMATICIANS 1998 IN BERLIN
Second Circular Letter
Subject: ICM98-CL2: Announcement of the chairman of the
ICM98 program committee,
ICM98 Sections
Dear Colleague:
It has been a long tradition of the International Mathematical
Union (IMU) to keep the members of the Program Committees for
forthcoming International Congresses secret. The reason for
this secrecy was to protect the members of the committee from
personal or political pressure from outside. Invitations to
lecture at the International Congresses carry such high prestige
that individuals or groups have always made efforts to influence
the decisions of the commmittee.
The General Assembly of the International Mathematical Union
decided at its last meeting in Luzern in 1994 to change the
policy and announce the Chairman of the Program Committee for
ICM'98 publically. This e-mail is meant to announce the decision
made by the Executive Committee (EC) of the International Union
concerning this matter.
The EC of IMU has asked Phillip Griffiths, Institute for Advanced
Study, Princeton, to chair the International Program Committee. He
decided to accept this difficult responsibility. His address is as
follows:
Phillip A. Griffiths
Institute for Advanced Study
Olden Lane
Princeton, NJ 08540-0631
Phone: +1/609/734-8200
Fax: +1/609/683-7605
E-mail: pg@math.ias.edu
If you would like to make any suggestion concerning plenary speakers,
invited presentations, or the structure of the program in general,
please write to Phillip Griffiths.
The program committee has met in early December 1995 for the first time.
In a letter you find below Phillip Griffiths gives a short description
of the future work of the committee and its plans.
Sincerely
Martin Groetschel David Mumford Jacob Palis
ENCLOSURE
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February 1996
Dear Colleague:
The Program Committee for ICM-98 had a very productive first meeting at the
Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey this past December.
Committee members came to the meeting with suggestions from their
colleagues for sections, panel members, and plenary speakers, and these
formed the basis for our preliminary recommendations. Since our meeting, we
have continued to consult among ourselves and with other colleagues, and we
have refined our lists based on input from many sources.
Our goal has been to organize the sections and to select panel members so
that they reflect current research in mathematics. The results of our
discussions are perhaps best presented by simply enclosing herewith our list
of sections, which includes the number of talks (in parentheses) to be
assigned to each.
We look forward to seeing you in Berlin in 1998.
Yours truly,
Phillip A. Griffiths
Chairman
ICM-98 Program Committee
ENCLOSURE
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ICM-98 Sections (as of 2/96)
1. Logic (number of talks: 4)
Model theory. Set theory and general topology. Recursion. Logics. Proof
theory. Applications.
2. Algebra (7)
Finite and infinite groups. Rings and algebras. Representations of finite
dimensional algebras. Algebraic K-theory. Category theory and homological
algebra. Computational algebra. Geometric methods in group theory.
3. Number Theory and Arithmetic Algebraic Geometry (8)
Algebraic and analytic number theory. Zeta and L-functions. Modular
functions (except general automorphic theory). Arithmetic on algebraic
varieties. Diophantine equations, Diophantine approximation.
Transcendental number theory, geometry of numbers. p-adic analysis.
Computational number theory. Arkelov theory. Galois representations.
4. Algebraic Geometry (5 + 2 joint with Section 12)
Algebraic varieties, their cycles, cohomologies and motives. Singularities
and classification. Includes moduli spaces. Low dimensional varieties.
Abelian varieties. Vector bundles. Real algebraic and analytic sets.
5. Differential Geometry and Global Analysis (6)
Local and global differential geometry, applications of PDE to geometric
problems including harmonic maps and minimal submanifolds, geometric
structures on manifolds.
6. Symplectic Geometry and Hamiltonian Theory (6)
Geometry of Lagrangian and contact manifolds, symplectic capacity,
Seiberg-Witten theory and Gromov-Witten invariant, 4-dimensional manifolds.
Hamiltonian dynamics, Hamiltonian formalism.
7. Topology (8)
Albegraic, differential, geometric and low dimensional topology. Geometric
structures of 3-manifolds. Invariants of knots and manifolds:
classification. Homotopy theory.
8. Lie Groups and Lie Algebra (10)
Algebraic groups, Lie groups and Lie algebras, including infinite
dimensional ones, e.g. Katz-Moody, representation theory. Automorphic forms
over number fields and functional fields, including Langlands' program.
Quantum groups. Shimura varieties. Vertex operator algebras. Enveloping
algebras. Super algebras.
9. Analysis (12)
Measure and integration. Localization on physical and frequency variables.
(Fourier, wavelets, special functions). Related functional spaces. One
and several complex variables. Holomorphic maps. Geometric function theory
and quasi-conformal maps. Operator theory.
10. Ordinary Differential Equations and Dynamical Systems (9)
Topological aspects of dynamics. Geometric and qualitative theory of ODE
and smooth dynamical systems, bifurcations, singularities (including
Lagrangian singularities), one-dimensional and holomorphic dynamics, ergodic
theory (including sensitive attractors) (in cooperation with 13).
11. Partial Differential Equations (includes non-linear functional
analysis) (10)
Solvability, regularity and stability of equations and systems. Geometric
properties (singularities, symmetry). Variational methods. Spectral
theory, scattering, inverse problems. Relations to continuous media and
control.
12. Mathematical Physics (10 + 2 joint with Section 4)
Quantum mechanics. Operator algebras. Quantum field theory. General
relativity. Statistical mechanics and random media. Integrable systems.
13. Probability and Statistics (11)
Classical probability theory, limit theorems and large deviations.
Combinatorial probability and stochastic geometry. Stochastic analysis.
Random fields and multicomponent systems. Statistical inference,
sequential methods and spatial statistics. Applications.
14. Combinatorics (6)
Interaction of combinatorics with algebra, representation theory, topology,
etc. Existence and counting of combinatorial structures. Graph theory.
Finite geometries. Combinatorial algorithms. Combinatorial geometry.
15. Mathematical Aspects of Computer Science (joint with IUCSI) (5)
Complexity theory and efficient algorithms. Parallelism. Formal languages
and mathematical machines. Cryptography. Semantics and verification of
programs. Computer aided conjectures testing and theorem proving. Symbolic
computation. Quantum computing.
16. Numerical Analysis & Scientific Computing (6)
Difference methods, finite elements. Approximation theory. Computational
applications of analysis. Optimization theory. Matrix calculations.
Signal processing. Simulations and applications.
17. Applications: (11)
a) applications (5)
Applications in biology, chemistry, physics, economics and finance, and
engineering sciences. mathematical modelling. Continuum methanics and
applications of discrete mathematics. Applications of dynamical systems,
robotics, etc.
b) (non-continuum) applied area, (i.e. mathematics of communications &
networking or an area of mathematical biology) (3)
c) materials/hydrodynamics (3)
18. Control Theory and Optimization (joint with Mathematical Programming
Society) (5)
Control, optimization and variational techniques. Linear, integer and
non-linear programming, graph, and networks. Applications.
19. Teaching and Popularization of Mathematics (3)
20. History of Mathematics (3)