PACIFIC NORTHWEST STRING SEMINAR  
Thursday-Friday December 4-5, 2003
University of Washington, Seattle


Mathematical Aspects of Open-Closed String Dualities
Organizers: Mina Aganagic, Charles Doran, Andreas Karch, Matthew Strassler
Funded with the generous support of  
the Pacific Institute of Mathematical Sciences,
the Milliman Fund at the UW Department of Mathematics,  
the U.S. Department of Energy, and
the Dean of the UW College of Arts and Sciences.

Schedule and Location

To Register

Lodging

Additional Related Special Lectures (to be held December 3rd)


For general questions, contact Matt Strassler (strassler@phys.washington.edu) or Charles Doran (doran@math.washington.edu)
For lodging and travel questions, contact Mary Sheetz, the UW Mathematics Department Administrator (sheetz@math.washington.edu, 206-543-6163)

SCHEDULE AND LOCATION

The workshop will be held all day (Thursday from 9 to 6 and Friday from 9 to 5) at the UW physics department, in room C520 (in the Physics-Astronomy Bldg. tower.)

The current list of confirmed speakers includes
Mina Aganagic (UW, Physics) Topological Strings and Integrable Hierarchies
Adrian Clingher (Stanford, math)  Mathematics Underlying the F Theory/Heterotic String Duality in Eight Dimensions.
Charles Doran (UW, math) Integral Structures, Toric Geometry, and Homological Mirror Symmetry
 Ezra Getzler (Northwestern, math) Moduli Spaces of Riemann Surfaces with Boundary and Gromov-Witten Invariants
 Sergei Gukov (Clay/Harvard, math/physics) Topological Gravity in Various Dimensions
 Kentaro Hori (Toronto, math/physics) Orientifolds of Gepner Models
 Ken Intriligator (UCSD, physics) U(1)_R and flavor charges, and open-closed string dualities
 Amer Iqbal (Harvard, physics) Quantum Foam and Topological Strings
 Melissa Liu (Harvard, math)  Formulas of one-partition and two-partition Hodge integrals.  (Abstract)

Schedule: (all talks will be 55-60 minutes of content with 15-20 minutes allotted for questions.)

Thursday Dec 4:

8:30   Registration Begins (outside the workshop room)
9:00   C. Doran: Integral Structures, Toric Geometry, and Homological Mirror Symmetry
10:15 Break
10:45 K. Hori: Orientifolds of Gepner Models
12:00 Lunch
2:00   E. Getzler: Moduli Spaces of Riemann Surfaces with Boundary and Gromov-Witten Invariants
3:15   K. Intriligator: U(1)_R and flavor charges, and open-closed string dualities
4:30   Break
5:00   M. Liu: Formulas of one-partition and two-partition Hodge integrals.  (Abstract)

Friday Dec 5:

9:00   M. Aganagic: Topological Strings and Integrable Hierarchies
10:15 Break
10:45 A. Iqbal: Quantum Foam and Topological Strings
12:00 Lunch
2:00   A. Clingher: Mathematics Underlying the F Theory/Heterotic String Duality in Eight Dimensions
3:15   S. Gukov: Topological Gravity in Various Dimensions
4:30   Break and Conclusion

 
REGISTRATION


We would very much appreciate it if you would register if you plan to attend the talks on Thursday and Friday.  To allow us to provide coffee and light refreshments, there is a nominal registration fee of $30 US for faculty and postdocs and $10 US for students. 


To register, please send an email message to Hagar Shirman (hagar@phys.washington.edu) containing the following information:

Full Name
Title (Graduate Student, Postdoctoral Fellow, Professor, etc.)
Home Institution (University and Department)

and whether you will

(a) pay in advance, by check only, made out to "University of Washington", delivered in person or sent to Hagar Shirman at the main office of the 
Department of Physics
University of Washington
PO Box 351560
Seattle WA 98195-1560 USA

(b) pay at the event itself (by check or US cash.)  Canadian attendees are requested to pay in U.S. cash on the day of the event.
LODGING


For participants travelling from nearby institutions:

Participants (speakers excepted) are asked to make their own lodging arrangements, but we have reserved a block of rooms until November 16th at a nearby hotel:

The Silver Cloud
5036 25th Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98105

[Their driving directions are pretty bad, and the neighborhood a little confusing, so you should try this map, which shows a star just before the point where the "cloverleaf" begins.  Note 45th passes over 25th Avenue, and the cloverleaf allows you to reach 25th and go under 45th. If you miss the turn, enter the University Village Mall and meander your way west until you get to 25th]

The charge for these rooms is $94 each and includes a complimentary expanded continental breakfast.

For questions, please contact Mary Sheetz (sheetz@math.washington.edu, 206-543-6163)

To get from the Silver Cloud to the Physics Department is about a 20-25 minute walk.    On this campus map, the Silver Cloud is just above the Q, at the top of the right-half of the map, and the Physics Department is at J-12, on the left-half of the map.  The Silver Cloud has a shuttle bus and they will assist to some degree, though the bus is too small to take everyone in one trip.

SPECIAL RELATED LECTURES


On Wednesday Dec. 3rd, prior to the workshop, and sponsored by an NSF VIGRE grant, several related lectures will be held at the University of Washington.
(Registration is not necessary for attendence at these lectures.)

I) Two technical lectures aimed at mathematics and physics graduate students interested in studying string theory, especially those planning to attend the workshop. 
These lectures will be held in the Husky Student Union Building (HUB) in Room 310.

1:30   Andreas Karch (Asst. Prof., Physics)  "Open and closed strings, and why they are the same"
2:30   Mina Aganagic (Asst. Prof., Physics)  "String theory, duality and geometry"

II) Two colloquium-style lectures aimed at a wider audience, including undergraduate math and physics majors and experts on other areas of mathematics and physics. 
These lectures will be held in the Physics Department A Wing in room A110.

4:30   Matthew Strassler (Assoc. Prof., Physics)     "Why are physicists so excited about string theory?"
5:15   Charles Doran  (Asst. Prof., Mathematics)    "Why are mathematicians so excited about string theory?"


 

















 

Formulas of one-partition and two-partition Hodge integrals (Liu)

Abstract:
Marcos Marino and Cumrun Vafa conjectured a remarkable formula of
one-partition Hodge integrals based on duality between open-string
theory and Chern-Simons theory. Motivated by the Marino-Vafa formula,
Jian Zhou conjectured a formula of two-partition Hodge integrals.
I will describe proofs of the above two formulas based on joint
works with Kefeng Liu and Jian Zhou.