International Association of Mathematical Physics

News Bulletin July 2008

This page shows the latest news items about Mathematical Physics. Please send news and suggestions for forthcoming bulletins to IAMP secretary, iamp@ujf.cas.cz. Older bulletins are also available.

Contents:

1. New members


2. Obituary: Jan Lopuszanski


3. A year before the ICMP


4. Lars Onsagers Award


5. Forthcoming meetings


6. A new book

1. New members: The following colleagues recently joined the Association
   

   Nagarajan Nithyadevi	National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan
   Ellen J. Siem	Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR, USA

2. Obituary: Jan Lopuszanski (1923-2008)

   Prof. Jan Lopuszanski, one of the founders of the Wroclaw School of Theoretical Physics, the initiator and organizer of the first Winter School of Theoretical Physics in Karpacz, Poland, and a man who has played a distinct role in the development of modern mathematical physics, was born in Lviv on the 21st of October 1923, then in Poland, now in Ukraine. He was 16 when the Second World War brought Poland under occupation. These were tragic times with the Polish population being ruthlessly exterminated by the invaders. At the age of 18 Jan Lopuszanski was arrested by the Soviet Secret Police NKVD under the charge of being a member of a Polish patriotic organization. Fortunately, two days after the outbreak of the German-Soviet war in June 1941, he escaped from the prison. After the war he emigrated from Lviv, which was incorporated into the Soviet Union, to Wroclaw, Poland, he started studying in 1945 as one of the first students at Wroclaw University and fell in love with physics.
   His all scientific career was associated with Wroclaw University. He received here the master degree in 1950, and five years later he obtained his D.Sc. In 1959 he became a professor of physics at Wroclaw University and worked here until 2006. During that time he was the Head of the Institute of Theoretical Physics and the Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.
   Lopuszanski first scientific investigations concerned problems in statistical physics and he published a series of papers on statistical theory of cascades of cosmic radiation. Then he became deeply engaged in the foundations of quantum field theory and in physical symmetries. A systematic study in that area resulted in several theorems concerning charges of massive particles and no-go theorems for mixing the internal and geometric symmetries. Around the year 1974 the supersymmetric period of his research began. His papers in collaboration with R. Haag and M. Sohnius provide a complete description of the supersymmetry transformations discovered by J. Wess and B. Zumino. In connection with his studies on supersymmetry Lopuszanski introduced two notions: The notion of central charges, and together with D. Buchholz the notion of non-local charges which played a crucial role in further developments of quantum field theories. The results he got are extensively quoted in the physical literature and they obtained a permanent place in mathematical physics. For his scientific achievements Jan Lopuszanski was awarded by numerous distinctions and rewards. He was a member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences.
   Prof. Jan Lopuszanski died on the 30th of April 2008 in Wroclaw.
   
   Robert Olkiewicz

3. A year before the ICMP

   Almost exactly one year separates us from the opening of the next International Congress on Mathematical Physics, to be held in Prague on August 3-8, 2009, being traditionally preceded by the Young Researcher Symposium on July 31 - August 1. The first bulletin will be distributed soon and you can follow the preparations at the ICMP web page. Here is a brief summary of where we are now:
   • Scientific programme: The International Scientific Committee choose plenary speakers; most of them have already confirmed their participation and their names will be announced soon. There will be eleven topical sessions which were devised as broad ones with various overlaps. Their organizers were also chosen and most of them have already started working intensively.
   • Congress scope: The traditional fields will be represented in the programme as you can see already from the topical sessions list. At the same time, the changing research landscape presents various challenges to which we have to react. In particular, the programme will contain a session named New Frontiers in Mathematical Physics and there will be a discussion event devoted to the future of our discipline.
   • Contributed talks: It is felt that the congress would benefit from a stronger bottom-up component. It has been thus decided to return to a tradition that existed up till 2000 by complementing the invited session talks by contributed ones. These speakers will be chosen by the session organizers from the proposals made by the participants; those not selected will be presented as posters.
   • Distinguishing achievements: Several prizes will be awarded during the ICMP and YRS. The most important and traditional among them is the Henri Poincaré Prize sponsored by the Daniel Iagolnitzer Foundation [nomination deadline: November 30, 2008] the history can be found at the following address.
     In addition, there will be new prizes, namely the IAMP Early Career Award [nomination deadline: February 3, 2009] and the IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Mathematical Physics [nomination deadline soon: August 3, 2008]. More on all these distinctions can be found at the indicated web pages.
   • Satellite meetings: two have are already been decided, other are under consideration. If you are thinking of having such a meeting, kindly contact kindly the local organizers.

4. Lars Onsagers Award

   The Norwegian University of Science and Technology informs that this year's Lars Onsagers International Award for excellence in science in chemistry, physics or mathematics to Professor Peter S. Riseborough of Temple University, Philadelphia.

5. Conference announcements

   Here we mention forthcoming meetings supported by the IAMP (type B),
   
   
   • XXVII International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics (Group27), in Yerevan, Armenia; August 13-19, 2008 (a reminder, announced earlier)
   • Third School and Workshop on Mathematical Methods in Quantum Mechanics, in Bressanone, Italy; February 16-21, 2009
   
   
   and others recognized by the IAMP (type C):
   
   
   • Quantum Spacetime and Noncommutative Geometry, Department of Mathematics, University of Rome "La Sapienza" September 29 - October 4, 2008
   • ISF Research Workshop on Random Matrices and Integrability: From Theory to Applications , in Yad Hashmona, Judean Hills, Israel; March 25-30, 2009
   
   

6. A new book

   • Vieri Mastropietro: Non-Perturbative Renormalization, World Scientific, 2008

For comments and suggestions send an email to the Secretary or Webmaster.