Math/Physics Learning Seminar

This will be an informal and introductory seminar series with the aim of studying how modern mathematical structures arise from physical systems. Hopefully, a deeper understanding of these structures may be gained by considering them within a physical context. No background in physics is supposed. The outline of the seminar is roughly as follows:

  • symplectic geometry and Poisson geometry in classical mechanics;
  • the various quantization schemes and basic quantum field theory;
  • Dirac structures;
  • G-torsors and gauge theory - the moduli space {gauge connections}/{gauge equivalence};
  • K-theory, spin geometry and the index theorem(s);
  • representation theory and the space-algebra correspondence;
  • groupoids and categorification;
  • noncommutative  geometry.

Of course, this is not a complete list of potential topics.

Details

Electromagnetism

by Kirill Levin | University of Toronto
Time: 14:00  (Thursday, May. 13, 2010)
Location: BA6183, Bahen Center, 40 St George St
Abstract:

Dates in this series

· Tuesday, Feb. 02, 2010: TBA (Joseph Johns)
· Tuesday, Feb. 09, 2010: Noether's Theorem in Hamiltonian Mechanics (Jonathan Fisher)
· Tuesday, Mar. 09, 2010: Geometric Quantization (Travis Li)
· Tuesday, Mar. 16, 2010: Special Relativity (Daniel Rowe)
· Tuesday, Mar. 23, 2010: The Dirac Equation (Jonathan Fisher)
· Thursday, Apr. 22, 2010: Summer Term Organizational Meeting ()
· Thursday, Apr. 29, 2010: A Review (Jonathan Fisher)
· Thursday, May. 13, 2010: Electromagnetism (Kirill Levin)