LOOPS 11: “Celebrating 25 years of Loop Quantum Gravity”

More info:  external link
Location:  Madrid, Spain

2nd 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. 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.

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.

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 (Louisiana State University, USA).
• 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 (University of New Brunswick, Canada).
• Alejandro Pérez (Univ. Méditerranée, Marseille, France).
• Jorge Pullin (Louisiana State University, USA).
• Carlo Rovelli (Univ. Méditerranée, Marseille, France).
• Hanno Sahlmann (Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, Korea).
• Parampreet Singh (Perimeter Institute, Canada).
• Lee Smolin (Perimeter Institute, Canada).
• Thomas Thiemann (Univ. Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany).
• Madhavan Varadarajan (Raman Research Institute, India).

LOCAL ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

• J. Fernando Barbero González (IEM, CSIC).
• Guillermo A. Mena Marugán (IEM, CSIC).
• Luis J. Garay Elizondo (Univ. Complutense, Madrid).
• Eduardo J. Sánchez Villaseñor (Univ. Carlos III, Madrid).
• Iñaky Garay Elizondo (Univ. Erlangen-Nürnberg)
• Mercedes Martín-Benito (AEI-Potsdam).
• Gonzalo Olmo Alba (IFIC, CSIC).
• Tomasz Pawlowski (Univ. New Brunswick).
• Mikel Fernández Méndez (IEM, CSIC).
• Daniel Martín de Blas (IEM, CSIC).
• Javier Olmedo Nieto (IEM, CSIC).

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Detailed information about registration, fees, 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.

Please note the following deadlines:

• Deadline for early registration: 28 February 2011
• Deadline for late registration: 20 March 2011
• Deadline for abstract submission: 20 March 2011
• Deadline for application for financial support: 28 February 2011
• Deadline for reservations to the banquet: 15 April 2011.

The registration period has been open for some time already. The fee for late registrations will be 250 €. The final decision concerning financial support will be taken shortly after 28 February 2011. So, those participants that need financial support should apply for it as soon as possible. Accommodation can be booked via the registration form that can be found in the conference web page. The web page also offers a list of cheap hotels, provided for informational purposes only, for those participants that prefer to book their hotel accommodation directly. Finally, pdf files with the conference POSTER are available for download at http://www.iem.csic.es/loops11/

Looking forward to meeting you all,

The local organizing committee.