***Second Announcement***

NSF/CBMS Regional Conference in the Mathematical Sciences:


TOPOLOGY, C*-ALGEBRAS, and STRING DUALITY
May 18 - May 22, 2009
Opening reception on the evening of May 17
at Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX

Principal Lecturer: Jonathan Rosenberg (Univ. of Maryland)

IMPORTANT NOTE: THE DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS FOR FUNDING SUPPORT IS 
APRIL 1; PREFERENCE WILL BE GIVEN TO APPLICATIONS RECEIVED BY MARCH 1.

Program: Some of the most exciting current research in geometry and 
topology has been motivated by problems in mathematical physics in 
general, and string theory in particular. Physicists are still divided 
concerning the usefulness of string theory as a ``unified field 
theory,'' uniting our understanding of all the fundamental forces of 
nature. However, even if string theory should turn out not to be fully 
confirmed by experiment, the fascinating and beautiful mathematics it 
has generated is expected to retain its mathematical value.

The subject of the conference will involve a number of such 
``spin-offs'' of string theory into pure mathematics, and the way they 
connect with other topics in topology and operator algebras that were 
initially developed for other purposes. The conference will focus 
largely on the rich interaction between these and other important 
concepts of current interest. Topics from pure mathematics will include 
K-theory and twisted K-theory, continuous-trace algebras and the 
Dixmier-Douady invariant, crossed product C*-algebras and their 
K-theory, bundles, and homotopy theory. The lecturer will develop parts 
of these subjects in their own right, as well as discussing their 
relevance to the very active current research in mathematical physics 
concerning dualities between various string theories, especially 
T-duality and S-duality.

In addition to Prof. Rosenberg, the following plan to attend and to speak:
	 Matt Ando
	Paul Baum
	Katrin Becker
	Melanie Becker
	Jonathan Block
	Peter Bouwknegt
	Jacques Distler
	Chuck Doran
	Dan Freed
	Nigel Higson
	Sooran Kang
	Marc Rieffel
	John Roe
	Hisham Sati
	Eric Sharpe
	Mathai Varghese
	Dana Williams

More information and registration can be found at
http://faculty.tcu.edu/gfriedman/CBMS/

Organizers: Robert Doran and Greg Friedman, TCU