Women in Mathematical Physics

BIRS, Banff (Alberta, Canada), September 20-25th 2020

Mathematical Physics is an interdisciplinary topic at the crossroads of pure mathematics and theoretical physics.

On the one hand, theoretical physics (in particular string and gauge theories in various dimensions and their duality relations) has been a constant source of inspiration for mathematics over the last decades. They have made the mathematical community realize underlying connections between mathematical entities which otherwise would have taken much longer, and have guided many astounding recent developments in very diverse topics. As an exchange, the study of properties and the application of new mathematical structures is essential to understand the nature of string theory and quantum gravity.

In this workshop we plan to create an environment with talks and disscussions in the direction where mathematical rigor and physical intuition merge in a natural way. Women (cis and trans and non-binary mathematicians) are underrepresented on the most of the STEM areas, and this one is no different. It is often the lack of nominations of women that leads to all-male lists of presenters at international mathematical conferences and prize winners. It is most crucial to improve the networks of female mathematical physicists, with an emphasis on the younger generations. Our workshop will create and strengthen such networks - all this in a supportive environment.

To achieve this, we follow the established, successful format of previous female-only events like "Women in Topology" or "Women in Noncommutative Algebra and Representation Theory". We will have few introductory talks and ample time for research in teams and discusssions.

Hence, the two main aims that motivate our workshop proposal are:

- Networking: to bring senior and junior female mathematical physicists together to attack research projects on topics of common interest, thereby expanding the mentorship networks of female mathematical physicists.

- Research: to work on research open problems of high interest concerning mathematical aspects of theoretical physics.