15/07/2025

Workshop in Dynamics and Geometry celebrates 20 years.

The 10th edition of the Workshop on Conservative Dynamics and Symplectic Geometry began this Monday (14) and will run until Friday (18), celebrating two decades of scientific collaborations. Organized by IMPA, the event is an international reference in the areas of Symplectic Geometry and Conservative Dynamics and contributes to the growth of research in the country.

“The first edition was organized by me and Marcelo Viana, when he invited me to create an event in the area of Conservative Dynamics at IMPA. At the time, research in Symplectic Geometry in Brazil was almost non-existent. Since then, the growth has been impressive, and the workshop has played an important role in that,” stated IMPA researcher Leonardo Macarini.

With 16 speakers, 15 of them from international institutions, the workshop offers a concise program of lectures and provides ample time for informal conversations and spontaneous scientific exchanges. Key topics covered include Symplectic Topology with applications to Hamiltonian Dynamics, Contact Geometry, Dynamics of Lagrangian Systems and Twist Maps , Integrable Systems and Aubry-Mather Theory, among others.

The event began with a presentation by researcher Viktor Ginzburg from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Titled “Barcode growth in Reeb dynamics,” he discussed the interaction between Morse/Floer theory and dynamics – work done in collaboration with three other mathematicians. In his opening remarks, he emphasized the long-standing partnership with the workshop. “Many things have happened in these 20 years. Some not so good, but if there’s one constant and reliable thing, it’s this workshop. It’s always been great, and it’s a pleasure to be here,” he said.

A PhD graduate from IMPA, Colombian Jonathan Trejos endured more than 30 hours of flight time between China and Brazil to participate for the third time in the event, which he considers an important opportunity. “We have few opportunities to speak with various people who can contribute to our research with other perspectives. I think the lectures are important because they provide a 'center' – a place to go. But the central point is the opportunity to see so many people together with such diverse knowledge in similar areas,” said the researcher, who is currently affiliated with a postdoctoral fellowship at SUSTech in Shenzhen – an important city in the Chinese province of Guangdong.

Arthur Melo, a doctoral student at the institute, is participating in the workshop for the second time and also highlights the positive aspects of the interaction opportunities the meeting offers. “It’s important for mathematics to have contact with many different ideas. What other people are thinking can greatly help your personal work, and here I’ve already seen a great plurality of ideas.”

This year's edition has 68 registered participants. In addition to Macarini, the workshop's organizing committee includes the general director of IMPA, Marcela Viana, the institute's researcher Henrique Bursztyn, and the researcher from UFES (Federal University of Espírito Santo), Marta Batoréo. Held since 2005, the event attracts prominent names from the international scientific community, many of whom participate regularly. See the full program here.

“Several scientific partnerships between Brazilian and foreign researchers were born here, contributing to the strengthening of national research, which today has increasing visibility on the international stage. It is important that IMPA, as an institution of excellence and renown, actively participates in this process. Here's to another 20 years!”, concluded Macarini.