From December 16 to 19, 2024, the International Center for Mathematical Sciences – Sofia (ICMS-Sofia) at the Institute of Mathematics and Informatics, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, hosted an educational workshop on the Theory of Atoms. The event was co-organized by the Institute for the Mathematical Sciences of the Americas (IMSA) at the University of Miami and ICMS-Sofia.
The goal of this workshop was to explain the foundations of the new theory of atoms, introduced recently by L. Katzarkov, M. Kontsevich, T. Pantev and T. Yu. Participants explored recent advances, applications, and future directions of the theory, as well as its connections to Theory of Symbols, Topological Modular Forms, and Symplectic Geometry.
The workshop attracted over 40 researchers from around the world, including Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Colombia, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Mexico, South Korea, Switzerland, and the USA, underscoring its global significance.
The workshop was organized as part of the project “Categorical Kähler Geometry and Applications”, led by Principal Investigator Ludmil Katzarkov and funded under the National Scientific Program “VIHREN” (Project № KP-06-DV-7) by the National Science Fund of Bulgaria. Additional support was provided by the Simons Foundation and the Scientific Programme “Enhancing the Research Capacity in Mathematical Sciences (PIKOM)”.
The event marked the launch of a new 5-year program on the Theory of Atoms, supported by a grant from the Simons Foundation and funding from the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria. This initiative will enable the establishment of a dedicated research group in this dynamic field, enhancing the international visibility of ICMS-Sofia and advancing mathematical research in Bulgaria.
