December 8-9, 2011

Intensive 2-day minicourse on Operator Algebras

The Fields Institute, Toronto

Organizers: Pinar Colak, George Elliott, Daniel Hay, Zhiqiang Li, Henning Petzka, Adam Sierakowski, Aaron Tikuisis, and Nicola Watson

Overview:

In advance of the Winter 2011 meeting of the Canadian Math Society, this intensive graduate-level course on Operator Algebras will be held. The audience of this course will be introduced to a number of modern, relevent topics in operator algebras (with an emphasis on C*-algebras). Although the course will be aimed towards graduate students interested in operator algebras, anyone is welcome to attend.

The mini-course will take place in the Stewart Library of the Fields Institute. The Fields Institute is located at 222 College Street West in Toronto. It is about a 20 minute walk from the Delta Chelsea, the venue of the CMS meeting. For more information about accomodations, please refer to the Fields Institute site here or the CMS website here. The organizers of the mini-course would also be happy to help with local information; just e-mail us.

Speakers:

Nate Brown - Groups and C*-algebras.
We will discuss some of the connections between groups and operator algebras, starting at the very beginning with basic constructions and hopefully ending with important research topics such as a-T-menability and property (T). The only thing I'll assume is familiarity with groups and the notion of a Hilbert space.

Farzad Fathizadeh and Masoud Khalkhali - Spectral invariants and noncommutative geometry.
A complete description of this course is available here.

David Kerr - Amenability, paradoxicality, and C*-algebras.
The dichotomy between amenability and paradoxicality forms one of the cornerstones of the combinatorial and geometric study of discrete groups. I will discuss the different ways in which these concepts translate into C*-algebra theory, with an emphasis on topological dynamics and their crossed products.

Leonel Robert - Introduction to the Jiang-Su algebra.
The Jiang-Su algebra Z plays a central role in many recent developments in the classification and structure of C*-algebras. The goal of this course is to give an introduction to the Jiang-Su algebra, its basic properties and its applications. Here's a brief outline: constructions of the Jiang-Su algebra Z; strong self-absorption; Z-absorbing C*-algebras; universal characterizations of Z.

Participants:

Rob Andrews
Michael Brannan (Queen's University)
Nate Brown (Penn State University)
Peter Burton (University of Toronto)
Tommy Chow (University of Waterloo)
Nhan-Phu Chung (State University of New York at Buffalo)
Pinar Colak (Simon Fraser University/Fields Institute)
Jason Crann (Carleton University)
George Elliott (University of Toronto)
Ilijas Farah (York University)
Ali Fathi (University of Western Ontario)
Farzad Fathizadeh (York University)
Asghar Ghorbanpour (University of Western Ontario)
Bradd Hartz (McMaster University)
Michael Hartz (University of Saarbrücken)
Daniel Hay (University of Toronto)
Cristian Ivanescu (Grant MacEwan, University of Alberta)
Keivan Mallahi Karai (Jacobs University Bremen)
David Kerr (Texas A&M University)
Masoud Khalkhali (University of Western Ontario)
Zhiqiang Li (Fields Institute)
David Li-Bland (University of Toronto)
Martino Lupini (York University)
Chad Melton (Fontbonne University)
Norio Nawata (Kyushu University)
Jan Pachl (Fields Institute)
Henning Petzka (University of Toronto)
Leonel Robert (University of Louisiana at Lafayette)
Adam Sierakowski (Fields Institute)
Wei Sun (Memorial University in Newfoundland)
Aaron Tikuisis (University of Münster)
Minh Truong (Fontbonne University)
Nicola Watson (University of Toronto)

Schedule:

The mini-course will take place in the Stewart Library of the Fields Institute.
Thursday,
Dec. 8		 Friday,
Dec. 9
8:15
-8:30		 Name tag pickup
8:30
-9:30		 David Kerr Farzad Fathizadeh and
Masoud Khalkhali
9:30
-10:00		 Break Break
10:00
-11:00		 Leonel Robert Leonel Robert
11:00
-12:00		 Nate Brown Nate Brown
12:00
-2:00		 Lunch Lunch
2:00
-3:00		 David Kerr David Kerr
3:00
-3:30		 Break Break
3:30
-4:30		 Farzad Fathizadeh and
Masoud Khalkhali		 Farzad Fathizadeh and
Masoud Khalkhali
4:30
-5:30		 Leonel Robert Nate Brown