24/06/2024

Conference at IMPA celebrates Fernando Cukierman's 70th birthday.

The conference “Foliation Theory and Algebraic Geometry” , which celebrates the 70th birthday of mathematician Fernando Cukierman (University of Buenos Aires), It started this Monday (24) at IMPA. The event, which ends on Friday (28), brings together around 100 Brazilian and foreign researchers and students.

“It’s an event celebrating the scientific achievements of Fernando Cukierman, an Argentinian mathematician and longtime friend of IMPA. The tribute was an initiative of his students,” highlighted the deputy director of IMPA, Jorge Vitório Pereira, one of the event organizers.

The conference program features internationally renowned researchers such as Alicia Dickenstein (University of Buenos Aires), Xavier Gomez-Mont (CIMAT – Mexico), Letterio Gatto (Politecnico di Torino), and Calum Spicer (King's College London).

The central theme of the event is the Theory of Holomorphic Foliations. In the opening of the first lecture, Jorge Vitório said that IMPA had co-participation in the initial research on the theory, along with study groups from France, Mexico, Spain, and Russia. "IMPA is very active in this area," stated the deputy director.

The study of Holomorphic Foliations blends with Algebraic Geometry: the interaction between the areas has promoted joint advances ranging from the theory of foliated manifolds according to their Kodaira dimension to the tendency to apply methods from deformation theory to study the modulus space of foliations in projective manifolds.

It is also with the relevance of this topic in mind that doctoral students Mariana de Oliveira Lourenço, Marcela de Fátima Ribeiro, and Rosilene Felício—from the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG)—came to spend the week in Rio de Janeiro to participate in the conference. This is not the first time the doctoral students have attended IMPA for scientific events. In February of this year, they attended the “Brazil-France School on Foliation Theory”.

Mariana emphasizes that the field of Folheações (a type of craft) is extensive and assures that this week's event is an opportunity to "meet people and build connections." "Sometimes, the topic isn't directly related to my work, but suddenly I can make a contact or get some ideas," she said.

Marcela adds that the students come from a small study group, made up of only four people, which makes this event even more essential. “Here, you meet other people, see how they work, different techniques, because sometimes you get stuck in just one area. This is important for our resumes,” she emphasized.

Rosilene, in turn, points to the importance of contact with other researchers: “It’s important to see other research areas in Foliations. Right now, we’re looking at some Algebraic Geometry, which is very much related to the area of Holomorphic Foliations. So, for me, who is just starting [my doctorate], it’s been very beneficial to meet other researchers in the same field.”

The IMPA conference aims to expand the network of scientific collaborations on the proposed theme, as well as to familiarize young researchers with research on Holomorphic Foliations, Algebraic Geometry, and interactions. The event program is available on the website .