LOOPS 11: “Celebrating 25 years of Loop Quantum Gravity”
Madrid, Spain,
23-28 May 2011
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT
The LOOPS 11 conference will take place at the main campus of the CSIC in Madrid (SPAIN) in May 23-28, 2011.
This edition will commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication by Abhay Ashtekar of the landmark paper on the “new variables” that sparked the loop quantum gravity (LQG) revolution. The meeting will be the fifth in the series of regular LOOP conferences that have been celebrated, to this date, in Marseille, Potsdam, Morelia and Beijing. In addition to the expected participation of LQG researchers, we would like to invite the quantum gravity community at large to be present in this occasion as this would provide a very fruitful exchange of ideas with researchers working on other approaches to the quantization of general relativity.
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the state of the art in LQG research and review the open issues and problems that must be solved to complete the quantization of general relativity in this framework. However we would like to place special emphasis on the impact of LQG on other approaches to quantum gravity and, reciprocally, on the exploration of ideas originating in other frameworks that could be eventually beneficial for LQG.
SCIENTIFIC CONTENT
The main topics that will be covered in the conference will be:
• Foundations of Quantum Gravity.
• Hamiltonian Loop Quantum Gravity.
• Covariant Loop Quantum Gravity and Spinfoams.
• Polymer Quantization and Quantum Field Theory.
• Loop Quantum Cosmology.
• Black Hole Physics.
• Dynamical Triangulations and other discrete approaches.
• Phenomenology derived from Quantum Gravity.
The schedule will be divided in morning plenary sessions and a number of parallel sessions covering the subjects listed above. These will take place during the afternoons.
INVITED SPEAKERS
• Abhay Ashtekar (Penn State University, USA).
• Martin Bojowald (Penn State University, USA).
• Alejandro Corichi (UNAM-Morelia, Mexico).
• Bianca Dittrich (Albert Einstein Institute, Germany).
• Kristina Giesel (TU Munich, Germany).
• Jerzy Lewandowski (Warsaw University, Poland).
• Renate Loll (Utrecht University, Netherland).
• Yongge Ma (Beijing Normal University, China).
• Don Marolf (Univ. California-Santa Barbara, USA).
• Daniele Oriti (Albert Einstein Institute, Germany).
• Tomasz Pawlowski (Univeristy of New Brunswick, Canada).
• Alejandro Pérez (Univ. Méditerranée, Marseille, France).
• Jorge Pullin (Louisiana State University, USA).
• Carlo Rovelli (Univ. Méditerranée, Marseille, France).
• Hanno Sahlmann (Karslruhe University, Germany).
• Parampreet Singh (Perimeter Institute, Canada).
• Lee Smolin (Permiter Institute, Canada).
• Thomas Thiemann (Univ. Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany).
• Madhavan Varadarajan (Raman Research Institute, India).
INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
• Abhay Ashtekar (Penn State University, USA).
• J. Fernando Barbero González (IEM, CSIC, Spain).
• John Barrett (Nottingham University, UK).
• José Manuel Cidade Mourão (Instituto Superior Técnico de Lisboa, Portugal).
• Laurent Freidel (Perimeter Institute, Canada).
• Jerzy Lewandowski (Warsaw University, Poland).
• Guillermo A. Mena Marugán (IEM, CSIC, Spain).
• Jorge Pullin (Louisiana State University, USA).
• Carlo Rovelli (Univ. Méditerranée, Marseille, France).
• Thomas Thiemann (Univ. Erlangen-Nurnberg, Germany)
LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
• Guillermo A. Mena Marugán (IEM, CSIC).
• J. Fernando Barbero González (IEM, CSIC).
• Luis J. Garay Elizondo (Univ. Complutense, Madrid).
• Eduardo J. Sánchez Villaseñor (Univ. Carlos III, Madrid).
• Iñaky Garay Elizondo (Univ. Erlangen-Nürnbeg)
• Mercedes Martín-Benito (AEI-Potsdam).
• Gonzalo Olmo Alba (IFIC, CSIC).
• Tomasz Pawlowski (Univ. New Brunswick e IEM-CSIC).
• Mikel Fernández Méndez (IEM, CSIC).
• Daniel Martín de Blas (IEM, CSIC).
• Javier Olmedo Nieto (IEM, CSIC).
ORGANIZATION
Detailed information about registration, abstract submission, accommodation, travel and financial support for participants can be found in the conference web page.
http://www.iem.csic.es/loops11/
This web page will be regularly updated with the necessary information. In particular the RELEVANT DATES and deadlines will be posted there.
Looking forward to meeting you all,
The local organizing committee.