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Richard Ewen Borcherds is a British mathematician currently working in quantum field theory. He is known for his work in lattices, group theory, and infinite-dimensional algebras, for which he was awarded the Fields Medal in 1998. He is well known for his proof of monstrous moonshine using ideas from string theory.
Israel Moiseevich Gelfand, also written Israïl Moyseyovich Gel'fand, or Izrail M. Gelfand was a prominent Soviet-American mathematician. He made significant contributions to many branches of mathematics, including group theory, representation theory and functional analysis. The recipient of many awards, including the Order of Lenin and the first Wolf Prize, he was a Foreign Fellow of the Royal Society and professor at Moscow State University and, after immigrating to the United States shortly before his 76th birthday, at Rutgers University. Gelfand is also a 1994 MacArthur Fellow.
In mathematics, monstrous moonshine, or moonshine theory, is the unexpected connection between the monster group M and modular functions, in particular the j function. The initial numerical observation was made by John McKay in 1978, and the phrase was coined by John Conway and Simon P. Norton in 1979.
In mathematics, and in particular in the mathematical background of string theory, the Goddard–Thorn theorem is a theorem describing properties of a functor that quantizes bosonic strings. It is named after Peter Goddard and Charles Thorn.
In mathematics, a vertex operator algebra (VOA) is an algebraic structure that plays an important role in two-dimensional conformal field theory and string theory. In addition to physical applications, vertex operator algebras have proven useful in purely mathematical contexts such as monstrous moonshine and the geometric Langlands correspondence.
In mathematics, the monster Lie algebra is an infinite-dimensional generalized Kac–Moody algebra acted on by the monster group, which was used to prove the monstrous moonshine conjectures.
Bertram Kostant was an American mathematician who worked in representation theory, differential geometry, and mathematical physics.
Melvin Hochster is an American mathematician working in commutative algebra. He is currently the Jack E. McLaughlin Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at the University of Michigan.
Kenneth Ralph Davidson is Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of Waterloo. He did his undergraduate work at Waterloo and received his Ph.D. under the supervision of William Arveson at the University of California, Berkeley in 1976. Davidson was Director of the Fields Institute from 2001 to 2004. His areas of research include operator theory and C*-algebras. Since 2007 he has been appointed University Professor at the University of Waterloo.
Robert Arnott Wilson is a retired mathematician in London, England, who is best known for his work on classifying the maximal subgroups of finite simple groups and for the work in the Monster group. He is also an accomplished violin, viola and piano player, having played as the principal viola in the Sinfonia of Birmingham. Due to a damaged finger, he now principally plays the kora.
The monster vertex algebra is a vertex algebra acted on by the monster group that was constructed by Igor Frenkel, James Lepowsky, and Arne Meurman. R. Borcherds used it to prove the monstrous moonshine conjectures, by applying the Goddard–Thorn theorem of string theory to construct the monster Lie algebra, an infinite-dimensional generalized Kac–Moody algebra acted on by the monster.
Igor Borisovich Frenkel is a Russian-American mathematician at Yale University working in representation theory and mathematical physics.
Arne Meurman is a Swedish mathematician working on finite groups and vertex operator algebras. Currently, he is a professor at Lund University.
Robert Louis Griess, Jr. is a mathematician working on finite simple groups and vertex algebras. He is currently the John Griggs Thompson Distinguished University Professor of mathematics at University of Michigan.
Mikhail Khovanov is a Russian-American professor of mathematics at Columbia University who works on representation theory, knot theory, and algebraic topology. He is known for introducing Khovanov homology for links, which was one of the first examples of categorification.
In mathematical physics the Knizhnik–Zamolodchikov equations, or KZ equations, are linear differential equations satisfied by the correlation functions of two-dimensional conformal field theories associated with an affine Lie algebra at a fixed level. They form a system of complex partial differential equations with regular singular points satisfied by the N-point functions of affine primary fields and can be derived using either the formalism of Lie algebras or that of vertex algebras.
Edward Vladimirovich Frenkel is a Russian-American mathematician working in representation theory, algebraic geometry, and mathematical physics. He is a professor of mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley.
Julius Bogdan Borcea was a Romanian Swedish mathematician. His scientific work included vertex operator algebra and zero distribution of polynomials and entire functions, via correlation inequalities and statistical mechanics.
David Dror Ben-Zvi is an American mathematician. He is currently a professor of mathematics at the University of Texas at Austin.
Alexander A. Voronov is a Russian-American mathematician specializing in mathematical physics, algebraic topology, and algebraic geometry. He is currently a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Minnesota and a Visiting Senior Scientist at the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe.
References
- Frenkel, Igor; Lepowsky, James; Meurman, Arne (1988). Vertex operator algebras and the Monster. Pure and Applied Mathematics. Vol. 134. Boston: Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-267065-5.
- Li, Haisheng; Lepowsky, James (2004). Introduction To Vertex Operator Algebras And Their Representations. Progress in Mathematics. Birkhäuser. ISBN 0-8176-3408-8.
