Abstract
Many classical results regarding surfaces in 3-dimensional Euclidean space, such as Weyl's isometric embedding problem and the Minkowski inequality, have their counterparts for surfaces in space-time. These generalizations are not only of mathematical interest, but also of physically relevant importance. They are closely related to fundamental concepts such as gravitational energy and cosmic censorship. In this lecture, the speaker would discuss some recent developments in these directions.
About the speaker
Prof Mu-Tao Wang received his PhD degree in Mathematics from Harvard University in 1998, before he joined Stanford University as a Szegö Assistant Professor. In 2001, he moved to Columbia University and is currently a Professor of Mathematics.
Prof Wang’s research covers the study of existence, regularity, convergence of the higher co-dimensional mean curvature flow, and the works on quasilocal mass-energy in general relativity. Recently, he proved a sharp Minkowski's type inequality in the AdS-Schwarzschild manifold, providing a natural interpretation of the Penrose's inequality for collapsing null shells of dust in general relativity.
Prof Wang received numerous awards, including the Morningside Gold Medal (2010) and the Chern Prize (2007), both by the International Congress of Chinese Mathematicians, and the Harold M Bacon Memorial Teaching Award by Stanford University (2000). He was also elected a Simons Fellow in Mathematics of Simons Foundation (2014), a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society (2012), a Kavli Fellow of the US National Academy of Sciences (2007), and a Sloan Research Fellow of Alfred P Sloan Foundation (2003).
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