ANNOUNCEMENT OF EAGER

P.R.A.G.MAT.I.C. 2006 at University of Catania

(Promotion of Research in Algebraic Geometry for MAThematicians in Isolated Centres)

Second announcement


PRAGMATIC is a project, sponsored by EAGER, for stimulating research in Algebraic Geometry among young people, especially those living in isolated centres or peripheral universities all over Europe.
For this purpose, every year, a group of experts  will suggest problems in some specific field and will give lectures and seminars and will have individual discussions with the participants in order to try to attack and to solve these problems.
At the end of all the activities of Pragmatic the results that the participants obtain could be reproduced in a special issue of the journal Le Matematiche.
In the period  4 September-23 September 2006, at Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica of the University of Catania, a new edition of this school of research Pragmatic 2006 will be held.


Teachers: 
Prof. Lucian Badescu University of Genova
Prof. Francesco Russo Universidade Federal de Pernambuco


Collaborators:


Theme of research: Extrinsic and formal geometry.

Scientific activity.
The questions are centered around studying special classes of submanifolds of a complex projective space, or more generally, of a rational homogeneous space (such as flag manifolds) using methods of projective geometry (some of them of a rather classical flavour) as well as modern techniques of formal geometry (see my recent research monograph, L. Badescu, Projective Geometry and Formal Geometry, Monografie Matematyczne Vol. 65, Birkhäuser, 2004). For example, using algebro-geometric methods find new Barth-Larsen type theorems for the Picard group of certain classes of submanifolds of the projective space, or of some more general homogeneous spaces (such as product of projective spaces, Grassmannians, etc).
Moreover, we shall present classical and recent results on the extrinsic geometry of projective algebraic varieties with extremal properties, via tangential projections (considered as degenerations of general projections) and deformations of rational curves (Mori theory). In this way we propose uniform proofs for many known results and exhibit some new contributions in the field.
Many questions concerning the border cases (at least in the low dimensional case) or small values of the extrinsic invariants measuring the exceptional behavior are still open. An introductory guide to this circle of ideas and methods are the lecture notes Tangents and Secant of Algebraic Varieties--Notes of a Course, Publicacoes Matematicas, IMPA/Rio de Janeiro, 2003, which will be completed and updated on this occasion.



Pragmatic will accept about 15-20 young participants and will support all the participants which are not able to find support in their institutions.


This financial support will be awarded, essentially, to young researchers, say at the pre-postdoctoral level, with preference given to those belonging to geographically isolated locations. The Co-ordinator of  Pragmatic is Prof. Alfio Ragusa (University of Catania). Other local organizers are: Rosario Strano, Renato Maggioni, Salvatore Giuffrida, Giuseppe Zappalà.

People who wish to be considered either for participation and/or for financial support should fill out the enclosed  application form, which should be sent to  the following address:

E-mail: zappalag@dmi.unict.it
or by ordinary mail to: Dott. Giuseppe Zappalà,

Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica,

Viale A.Doria 6, 95125 Catania-Italy.

or

E-mail: ragusa@dmi.unict.it
or by ordinary mail to: Prof. Alfio Ragusa,

Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica,

Viale A.Doria 6, 95125 Catania-Italy.



A fee of 200 EUR (payable at registration) will be requested to each participant (note that the financial support will cover the cost of this fee). The deadline for  applications is 15 June 2006. The Committee of Pragmatic will decide about financial supports and admissions within June 2006 and will inform all the applicants of the outcome.  Moreover a list of participants and all the activities of the school will be spread by EAGER net. Interested people who need more information about Pragmatic can contact any member of the local committee, using the following E-mail addresses: sstrano, maggioni, giuffrida, zappalag (one of these)@dmi.unict.it



APPLICATION FORM TO PRAGMATIC 2006

Surname:                                                                      

Name:

Male or Female:

Date of Birth:

Nationality:

Institution:

Academic qualification (Ph.D., Master,...):

Name of advisor:

Professional Status and Current Position:

E-mail address:

Field of interest:

Estimate cost of travel to Catania:

Can you be supported by your institution?: (Possible answers: totally, partly, no)

If you have a Ph.D, when did you get it and where?

Reasons for wanting to participate in the session:

It is suggested that the applications include both a recommendation letter and a brief Curriculum vitae