Mini course on Quantum Groups

[Aron Lagerberg]

Dear all,

visiting Professor Andrzej Borowiec from the Institute for Theoretical
Physics, University of Wroclaw, will give a 2-3 lecture mini course on
Quantum Groups.
These lectures are also intended for students and will have the form of an
elementary introduction so we encourage everyone who wants to hear about
Quantum Groups for the first time to come along.


DATES & ROOMS:
Thursday 12 Sept (15:00-16:00) VR II, 151
Friday   20 Sept (15:00-16:00) VR-II, 151
Monday   23 Sept (15:00-16:00) VR II, 157

TITLE: "Quantum Groups: an elementary introduction."

ABSTRACT: Quantum groups (QGs in short) is a new branch studied by pure
mathematicians as well as theoretical physicist which attracted a lot of
interest in the past  years.  From physical point of view they describe
symmetries of noncommutative (=quantized or deformed in physical terms)
spaces. QGs came to existence in the middle eighties introduced
independently by two authors: Vladimir Gershonovich Drinfeld and Lech
Stanislaw Woronowicz subsequently to the Alain Connes idea of
Noncommutative Geometry (NCG). Both concepts seemed to be unrelated at
that time.  Drinfeld's QGs are quantized enveloping algebras of Lie
algebras while in Woronowicz approach one quantizes algebra of functions
on a classical (matrix) group. Therefore both notions are related by the
concept of duality. From mathematical point of view QGs are special case
of Hopf algebras introduced by Heinz Hopf in 1941. During 2-3 lectures
course I will attempt to explain the basic ideas on algebraic level
accessible for students of Mathematics and Physics Departments.