Monge-Ampere Type Equations and Applications

The workshop on Monge-Ampere type equations at BIRS was held from August 2 to August 7 in the summer of 2003. It is a focused meeting in the rapidly developing areas related to Monge-Amp ere equation, and fully nonlinear equations in general. The workshop presents a unique and timely opportunity to stimulate important new mathematical research and exposition on the subjects. There were 20 one-hour talks during the 5-day workshop to present important recent works. The setting of BIRS is ideal for promoting informal interaction that has proved so fruitful in the past in the eld. There has been increasing interaction among researchers on the eld In recent years. In a more general context, the workshop served as viechle to foster mathematical interaction between researchers in the eld in dieren t areas of the world. The participants consist of mathematicians from Canada, United States, France, Germany, Australia and China. The participants of the workshop includes both some of the most distinguished mathematicians in the world and many of the top young researchers (including 2 graduate students) in the eld. That’s a good mixture of both senior and junior researchers. There were great interactions between senior and junior mathematicians working in the area. This kind interaction at the research level is crucial to the continuing high level of advancement of the eld. The workshop provided a wonderful educational opportunity for many junior researchers in the eld. The combination of talks, problem sessions, informal discussions, and the special environment of BIRS provided this opportunity. Because of the geographic diversity of the researchers in the eld, bringing the participants together for the 5-day workshop strongly facilitate the dissemination of the most recent research ideas and results, which otherwise might not be possible. The atmosphere of the workshop and its surroundings may lead to new collaborations during the workshop and especially in the years following the workshop. Neil Trudinger of the Austranlian National University, one of the prominent mathematicians in the eld, told the organizers that this workshop is the best meeting he has ever attended. The combination of the breadth and the cohesiveness of the eld of Monge-Ampere type equations certainly has made the 5-day workshop at BIRS have signican t impact on the eld.