Participation in INI programmes is by invitation only. Anyone wishing to apply to participate in the associated workshop(s) should use the relevant workshop application form.
Programme theme
General relativity has been around for a long time as a physical theory and an object of mathematical study. It was a subject of intense interest in the 1960s and 1970s when advances included the discovery of the Kerr solution, the study of black holes and singularity theorems and the introduction of asymptopia as a framework for studying asymptotic properties, including gravitational radiation. At the same time there were many mathematical problems which resisted mathematical analysis. In recent years there have been significant advances in our understanding of the topological, geometrical and PDE aspects of general relativity and progress is once again becoming rapid. New results are being obtained, and older results re-proved in greater generality.
This programme will be structured around four themes:
- Elliptic aspects of general relativity: new methods of solving the constraint equations, developments from the solution of the Riemannian Penrose inequality, the study of static and stationary solutions including black holes.
- Hyperbolic aspects of general relativity: local and global evolution problems, Cosmic Censorship conjecture, and the nature of singularities.
- Global Lorentzian geometry: global techniques and asymptotic structure, splitting theorems and extendibility.
- New methods in general relativity: inverse scattering and boundary-value problems, scattering theory for linear field equations, new methods from Riemannian geometry.
While all four themes will be worked on throughout the programme, and indeed it would be neither possible nor desirable to keep them rigidly separate, there will be periods of more focus on each. The overall emphasis will be on mathematical results and global properties of solutions of the Einstein equations, but it is worth noting that there is a clear motivation from physics to deepen our understanding of general relativity, at a time when gravitational wave detectors around the world have started collecting data.
Thematic Diary
- 8 - 21 August
- Hyperbolic problems (organised by I Rodnianski and H Friedrich)
- 15 - 21 August
- Numerical relativity (organised by L Lehner and H Friedrich, including a Satellite Meeting in Southampton organised by C Gundlach and H Friedrich)
- 21 - 27 August
- Euroconference - Global general relativity
- 30 August - 11 September
- Black holes (organised by R Wald and PT Chrusciel)
- 12 - 25 September
- Dynamical systems (organised by A Rendall and H Ringström and P Tod)
- 26 September - 9 October
- Riemannian geometry and GR (organised by M Anderson and PT Chrusciel)
- 10 - 16 October
- Lorentzian geometry (organised by A Zeghib and PT Chrusciel)
- 17 - 23 October
- Global techniques (organised by G Galloway and PT Chrusciel)
- 17 October - 13 November
- Quantum aspects (organised by A Ashtekar and PT Chrusciel)
- 14 - 20 November
- Asymptotic structure
- 21 - 27 November
- Inverse scattering and integrability (organised by G Neugebauer and P Tod)
- 28 November - 11 December
- Static/stationary solutions (organised by R Beig and PT Chrusciel)
- 5 - 23 December
- Constraint equations (organised by J Isenberg and PT Chrusciel)
- 12 - 16 December
- Einstein Constraint Equations (organised by J Isenberg and PT Chrusciel)
This structure is intended to indicate at which period somebody who is interested in a particular subject is more likely to meet people interested in the same subject.