Oberwolfach Seminar (1043b): The Willmore Functional

Date

October 24-30, 2010

Organizers

Ernst Kuwert, Freiburg

Reiner Schätzle, Tübingen

Programme

The Willmore energy of an immersed surface in Euclidean space is the integral of the squared mean curvature with respect to surface measure. The functional is of interest in differential geometry, two-dimensional elasticity and in the geometric calculus of variations. The seminar will focus on recent ideas from nonlinear partial differential equations and variational methods.

Prerequisites

The seminar is open to students and postdocs. As background only basic knowledge in differential geometry and partial differential equations is required.

Specific Programme and Literature

Detailed information can be found in this description.

Deadline for applications

September 1^st, 2010

The seminars take place at the Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach. The number of participants is restricted to 24. The Institute covers accommodation and food. Travel expenses cannot be reimbursed. Applications including

• full name and address, including e-mail address
• present position, university
• name of supervisor of Ph.D. thesis
• a short summary of previous work and interest

should be sent preferably by e-mail (.ps or .pdf file) to:

    Prof. Dr. Gert-Martin Greuel
    Universität Kaiserslautern
    Fachbereich Mathematik
    Erwin Schrödingerstr.
    67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany