AnnualReport 2004 2005 AnnualReport 2004 2005 Also available on the CRM’s website www.crm.umontreal.ca c Centre de recherches mathématiques Université de Montréal, 2006 ISBN 2-921120-42-9 Centre de recherches mathématiques Université de Montréal C.P. 6128, succ. Centre-ville Montréal, QC H3C 3J7 Canada CENTRE DE RECHERCHES MATHÉMATIQUES Presenting the Annual Report 2004 – 2005 5 Thematic Program 8 Thematic Year 2004 – 2005: The Mathematics of Stochastic and Multiscale Modeling . 9 Aisenstadt Chairholders in 2004 – 2005: T.Y. Hou and A.J. Majda . 11 Activities Held During the Thematic Year . 12 Past Thematic Programs . 17 General Program 18 CRM Activities . 19 CRM-ISM Colloquium Series . 28 Multidisciplinary and Industrial Program 30 CRM Activities . 31 CRM Prizes 36 CRM – Fields Prize 2005 awarded to David W. Boyd . 37 André Aisenstadt Prize 2005 awarded to Ravi Vakil . 37 CAP – CRM Prize 2005 awarded to Robert C. Myers . 38 CRM – SSC Prize 2005 awarded to Jiahua Chen . 39 CRM Partnership 40 CRM Partners . 41 Joint Initiatives . 45 Mathematical Education 49 Institut des sciences mathématiques (ISM) . 50 Others Joint Initiatives . 52 Research Laboratories 54 Applied Mathematics . 55 CICMA................................................. 57 CIRGET . 60 LaCIM ................................................. 62 Mathematical Analysis . 66 Mathematical Physics . 69 PhysNum . 71 Statistics . 74 Publications 77 Recent Titles . 78 Previous Titles . 78 CRM Preprints . 81 Scientific Personnel 83 CRM Members in 2004-2005 . 84 Postdoctoral Fellows . 85 Long-term Visitors . 86 Short-term Visitors . 87 Preprints and Research Reports 89 Committees Heading the CRM 95 Bureau de direction . 96 Scientific Advisory Committee . 96 CRM Administrative and Support Staff 100 The Director’s Office . 101 3 CENTRE DE RECHERCHES MATHÉMATIQUES Administration . 101 Scientific Activities . 101 Computer Services . 101 Publications . 101 Communications . 101 Statement of Revenue and Expenditures for the Fiscal Year Ending on May 31, 2005 102 Mission of the CRM 105 4 Presenting the Annual Report 2004 – 2005 CENTRE DE RECHERCHES MATHÉMATIQUES HIS year the quan- our activities in addition to the 1,459 registered Ttity and impact participants in our international workshops and of the CRM’s diverse conferences. activities are more The Centre’s scientific programming is struc- impressive than ever. tured into a thematic program, a general pro- In the year covered by gram, a multidisciplinary/industrial program this report, the CRM and an educational program. In addition there organized a most pro- are the eight research laboratories in which most ductive thematic year of the research work takes place. Our publication on the “Mathematics and postdoctoral fellowship programs complete of Stochastic and Mul- the outline of our activities. Here is a brief de- tiscale Modeling” put scription of each: together by Anne Bourlioux and Paul Tupper assisted by a high-level international team. The Thematic program The thematic program is CRM also organized numerous international the principal activity organized by the Centre in conferences and workshops, including the ma- the accomplishment of its national mandate sup- jor “Workshop on Computational Biology in the ported by NSERC. In general, themes alternate Post Genomics Era,” held at CRM and initiated between subjects in pure mathematics and in by the three Canadian mathematics institutes in applied mathematics, usually where mathemat- collaboration with NRC. This workshop brought ics borders with other sciences where they have together, for the first time in Canada, univer- considerable impact. In 2004-2005, the theme sity researchers with NRC scientists. Thanks chosen was in the applications of mathematics in to the prestigious NSERC Leadership Support “Stochastic and Multiscale Modeling.” It was a Initiatives program CRM hosted an “Informal splendid program lead masterfully by Bourlioux Semester in Symplectic Topology.” Another no- and Tupper. Let the numbers speak for them- table event was the three-week “Short Pro- selves: the program drew over 400 participants gram on Riemannian Geometry” organized by from around the world, several longterm vis- Vestislav Apostolov. The CRM also assisted with itors and postdoctoral researchers. It included the registrations logistics of the “Quatrième col- several workshops, mini courses and two Aisen- loque francophone sur les sondages,” a major stadt Chair lecture series given by Andrew J. international colloquium. In fact, in the single Majda (Courant Inst.) and Thomas Y. Hou (Cal- 2004 – 2005 year, CRM organized 29 events of tech). which 25 were held on its premises! This consists General program This program is comprised of four more activities than were offered the pre- of the non-thematic events organized by CRM. vious year, which was already extremely busy. The Séminaire de Mathématiques Supérieures In 2004 – 2005, CRM organized a record number (a NATO ASI) dealt with “Morse Theoretic advanced training schools, including the SMS Methods in Non-linear Analysis and Symplectic (a NATO ASI), the Spring School on “Mini- Topology” and drew 80 participants from about invasive Procedures in Medicine and Surgery: twenty countries and some 40 local participants. Mathematical and Numerical Challenges,” a We have already mentioned the Fall 2004 “In- “Summer School on Riemannian Geometry,” the formal Semester in Symplectic Topology” that “Summer School on Stochastic Calculus for Ap- had about 40 foreign participants, which greatly plications: Theory and Numerics,” and cred- benefited local students and postdoctoral fel- ited advanced courses such as the one given by lows. Following this semester, the Institute for Claude LeBris on “Multiscale Systems.” In all, Advanced Study in Princeton held a special 1,459 participants from the four corners of the workshop that largely echoed the semester. The world were officially registered in these events. general program included the Summer 2004 To all this, we must also add the seminar se- short program on Riemannian geometry and the ries organized by the centre’s eight research lab- workshop on K-Theory that inspired the Fields oratories (five of which were held in the CRM’s Institute’s forthcoming thematic semester of Fall seminar rooms), the special lectures given by the 2006; as well as the financing (in collaboration Aisenstadt Chair holders, by CRM prize win- with the two other Canadian institutes) of ac- ners (CRM – Fields, Aisenstadt, and CRM – SSC tivities organized by AARMS in the Atlantic prizes) and those in our two weekly Colloquium provinces. In addition, it includes the four an- series (one each in mathematics and statistics). nual prizes awarded by CRM and the two col- This represents a few thousand participants in loquium series in mathematics and statistics or- 6 PRESENTING THE ANNUAL REPORT 2004 – 2005 ganized jointly with ISM. These Colloquiums in and several workshops, in addition to those or- which a world-renowned researcher addresses a ganized by CRM, including for instance, the large audience are particularly important for the “Workshop on Spectral Theory of Schrödinger training of graduate students. These activities Operators,” the “Workshop on Dynamics in are mainly supported by NSERC and FQRNT Statistical Mechanics,” the “Analysis Day,” the grants. “Workshop on Low-dimensional Topology,” the Multidisciplinary and Industrial Program Even “Workshop on Bayesian Inference and Func- though the development of mathematics is at the tional Brain Mapping,” the “Montreal Scientific heart of the Centre’s preoccupations, we have Computing Days,” and several others. Thanks to a very wide definition of these and an open- the laboratories and the devoted members of the ness to its applications in other scientific fields. Centre’s Scientific Advisory Committee, more CRM is the host institution of the Québec net- than ever the CRM’s programs achieve world- work in computation and mathematical mod- class standing. eling (ncm2). While NSERC financing of the Publications The CRM has a vigorous publish- network ended recently, ncm2 still incorporates ing program with some fifteen new and forth- the Bell University Laboratories and serves to coming titles. Both the American Mathematical launch collaborative efforts. CRM is also a main Society and Springer have a CRM series. Among partner of the Mathematics of Information Tech- the new titles of the year, of note are a mono- nology and Complex Systems (MITACS), a fed- graph by V. Guillemin (MIT) and R. Sjamaar erally funded Network of Centres of Excellence. (Cornell) and another by A.J. Majda (Courant The industrial program organized by CRM in Institute), as well as proceedings edited by 2004 – 2005 was quite full with nine workshops, J. Hurtubise (McGill) and E. Markman (Mas- summer schools and special advanced courses. sachusetts) on “Algebraic Structures and Mod- These activities included the launch of a CRM – uli Spaces,” by V. Apostolov (UQÀM), A. Dancer CRIAQ – MITACS collaboration in January 2005 (Oxford), N. Hitchin (Oxford) and M. Wang (Mc- put together by CRM and held at the Office for Master) on “Perspectives on Riemannian Geom- Advanced Research of Bombardier Aerospace; etry.” See the complete list in this annual re- as well as the first major workshop bringing to- port. To which we should add the nice collection gether university and NRC researchers involved from the NATO ASI/Séminaire de Mathémati- in computational biology, and the “Workshop ques Supérieures published by Springer but en- on