WORKSHOP ON THE GEOMETRY AND TOPOLOGY OF LOW-DIMENSIONAL MANIFOLDS.

Part-I: Geometry and Topology with emphasis on Poincare Conjecture (2nd-8th Jan. 08)

Part-II: Teichmuller Theory (9th-16th Jan. 08)

2nd to 16th January, 2008.

Dept. of Mathematics, University of Pune and Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana, Pune

Venue: Department of Mathematics, University of Pune, Pune.

Time Table AccommodationSpeakers ContactLecture Notes


In the past twenty/thirty years, the geometry and topology of low dimensional manifolds have seen major developments. These developments also have direct inputs from theoretical physics, for example from quantum field theories and string theory. The Ricci flow, introduced by Hamilton, and its use by Perelman for the proof of the Poincare Conjecture has been one of the major advances in this area in recent times. A generalization of the Poincare Conjecture is the Geometrization Conjecture of Thurston, which proposed special Riemannian geometries for all compact 3-manifolds. It is also claimed to be proved by the Ricci Flow Techniques. A special case of Haken manifolds was already proved independently by very different techniques coming from Teichmuller Theory. There will be special lectures on topics in Riemann surfaces, quasiconformal mappings, Kleinian groups and Teichmullar theory.

Prof.s S. T. Yau and Hamilton will be during Jan 2-Jan 5, 2008. Prof. Penner will be during Jan 10-Jan 14, 2008.

The workshop will discuss some of these developments and their role in the study of invariants of manifolds. The workshop is particularly suitable for young research workers and advanced post graduate/ Ph.D. students and university and college teachers interested in these new developments. It is being organized as a satellite workshop associated with the 100th year of the Indian Mathematical Society and its annual conference to be held in the University of Pune from December 27 -30, 2007.
The Workshop is partially funded by the National Science Foundation of the United States.

Speakers: The principal speakers will include:

Part-I
Part-II
Updated list of speakers and topics

How to apply: Applications giving the following details should be sent to the address given below:
1. Name 2. Age 3. M/F 4. Institution 5. Address for correspondence, e-mail, phone no.
6. Educational qualifications / Research interests 7. Any additional information.

Research students should send a letter of recommendation from their supervisor / Head.
The applications should be sent, before October 20, 2007 to:


The Organizing Committee,
Workshop ( January 2008),
Department of Mathematics,
University of Pune,
Pune 411 007.
Phone No. 020-2560-1272,
or by e-mail to hbhate at math.unipune.ernet.in

Additional information will be available at the departmental website: math.unipune.ernet.in or www.bprim.org. Interested participants should check for updates.

Local hospitality will be extended to all participants. Limited travel support may be available to a few participants, subject to availability of funds.
Organising Committee:
Indranil Biswas,(Convener)TIFR, Mumbai
Sudeb Mitra (Convener, US)City Univ. of New York
K. B. Marathe (Convener) City Univ. of New York
H. Bhate (Local coodinator) University of Pune
B. N. Waphare ( HoD, Maths.) University of Pune
Ravi Kulkarni (Convener) Bhaskaracharya Pratishthana and IIT Bombay
S. A. KatreUniversity of Pune
V. S. GejjiUniversity of Pune


Prof.s Ravi Kulkarni (IIT, Bombay, and Bhaskaracharya Pratishthan) and Sathanam (IIT, Kanpur)) will give some preliminary lectures on Curvature, Connections.

Prof. Vemuri (CMI) will lecture on Maximum Principles.

Prof. Mangasuli (BP) will lecture on Heat equations on Riemannian manifolds.

List of speakers and topics:


1) Ara Basmajian
Title: "Isometries of Hyperbolic space as commutators".

2) Petra Bonfert-Taylor
Title: "Quasiconformal homogeneity of hyperbolic domains and their boundaries".

3) Edward Taylor
Title: "Quasiconformal symmetry and ammenability".

4) Dragomir Saric [Jan., 9-16, 2008]
Title: "The Teichmuller distance between finite index subgroups of $PSL_2(\mathbb{Z})$".

5) Perry Suskind
Title: "The Geometry at Infinity of a Hyperbolic Riemann Surface of Infinite Type."

Abstract: (This is joint work with Andrew Haas.) We study geodesics on a planar Riemann surface of infinite type having a single infinite end. Of particular interest is the class of geodesics that go out the infinite end in a most efficient manner. We investigate properties of these geodesics and relate them to the structure of the boundary of a Dirichlet polygon for a Fuchsian group representing the surface.

6) Sudeb Mitra
Title: "Some extensions of holomorphic motions."

7) Ravi S. Kulkarni