Workshop: Mass in General Relativity

Overview

This is a one-day workshop focusing on the notion of mass in general relativity. It will be held at Astro-Math 440, NTU on July 9th, 2019.

Due to the equivalence principle and the lack of an absolute space, the understanding of this fundamental notion for gravitation has been subtle since Einstein's time. Arnowitt-Deser-Misner gave the well-defined definition for an asymptotically flat isolated system, while Bondi-Trautman gave the definition of mass after gravitational radiation. By 1970's, it was well-recognized that the positivity of these notions, which is intimately related to the stability of the system, lies in the foundation of the theory of general relativity. There was an intense period of study and the efforts culminated in the proof of the positive mass theorem by Schoen-Yau in 1980's (a different proof was given by Witten later). The subject has since undergone rapid developments. In particular, many new ideas and techniques from geometric analysis were applied and major progress has been achieved. The talks of this workshop will provide an overview of related topics and also make connections to the summer course "The mathematics of gravitational radiations" in the following week.

Speakers and Programs

• 9:30-10:30 Shing-Tung Yau 丘成桐 (Harvard/Tsinghua): Geometric roles in general relativity and gauge theory. The distinguished lecture will take place in R639, Lecture Room, Institute of Mathematics, Academia Sinica.
• 11:00-12:00 Ye-Kai Wang 王業凱 (NCKU): A review of positive mass theorems.
• 2:00-3:00 Po-Ning Chen 陳泊寧 (UC Riverside): A review of quasilocal mass in general relativity.
• 3:30-4:30 Mu-Tao Wang 王慕道 (Columbia): Mass and gravitational radiation.

Organizers

• Chung-Jun Tsai 蔡忠潤, National Taiwan University
• Mao-Pei Tsui 崔茂培, National Taiwan University
• Mu-Tao Wang 王慕道, Columbia University