Workshop

Representation theory has often been a key to unlocking problems of enumeration and structure for our favorite combinatorial objects. In the reverse direction, answering many of the central questions of representation theory required development of sophisticated combinatorial techniques and constructions. This interplay, which has only intensified in recent years, will be at the focus of the workshop. Potential topics to be discussed include (the combinatorial aspects of): quiver representations; cluster algebras; Macdonald and LLT polynomials; representation-theoretic techniques in quantum/statistical mechanics; generalized Littlewood-Richardson rules, Schur-positivity, and connections with Schubert calculus; crystal bases and graphs; affine Grassmannians, Mirkovic-Vilonen cycles; dual canonical and semi-canonical bases; Horn and Deligne-Simpson problems; tropical calculus in representation theory. A relatively small number of talks should leave ample time for informal discussions and presentations. INVITED SPEAKERS: Harm Derksen (Univ. of Michigan- Ann Arbor) Philippe Di Francesco (CNRS- Saclay) Mark Haiman (Univ. of California- Berkeley) Joel Kamnitzer (Univ. of California- Berkeley, American Inst. of Math.) Michael Kapovich (Univ. of California- Davis) Rinat Kedem (Univ. of Illinois- Urbana) Thomas Lam (Harvard Univ.) Cristian Lenart (SUNY- Albany) George Lusztig (MIT) Alexander Postnikov (MIT) Arun Ram (Univ. of Wisconsin- Madison, Univ. of Melbourne) Anne Schilling (Univ. of California- Davis) Jan Schroer (Univ. of Bonn) Mark Shimozono (Virginia Tech) David Speyer (Clay Math Inst., MIT) John Stembridge (Univ. of Michigan- Ann Arbor) Anatoly Vershik (Steklov Institute- St. Petersburg) Andrei Zelevinsky (Northeastern Univ.) A block of rooms has been reserved at the Rose Garden Inn. Reservations may be made by calling 1-800-992-9005 OR directly on their website. Click on Corporate at the bottom of the screen and when prompted enter code MATH (this code is not case sensitive). By using this code a new calendar will appear and will show MSRI rate on all room types available. The following Group Code should be entered in the "Comment" field when booking through our Website. Group Code = CGMS57. The cut-off date for reservations is March 2, 2008. A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hotel Durant. Please mention the workshop name and reference the following code when making reservations via phone, fax or e-mail: ER0000. The cut-off date for reservations is February 15, 2008.