October 2017 - Categories - categories.org.au

Re: Kinetic Energy Is A Riemann Metric On Configuration Space (fwd)
by Johannes Huebschmann 02 Nov '17

02 Nov '17

Dear All Last thursday I had sent a message to Harry Dole but wasn't sure whether it might interest others and did not send it to the list. Since the discussion continues, here is a copy of my message to Harry Dole. Johannes ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2017 10:20:42 +0200 (CEST) From: Johannes Huebschmann <huebschm(a)math.univ-lille1.fr> Reply-To: Johannes.Huebschmann(a)math.univ-lille1.fr To: Harry Dole <hfdole(a)gmail.com> Cc: johannes.huebschmann(a)math.univ-lille1.fr Subject: Re: categories: Kinetic Energy Is A Riemann Metric On Configuration Space Dear Harry This is great. Many thanks indeed. In 1977 (or so) Mac Lane gave a talk at Heidelberg and mentioned Max and Min, Lax and Lin, the principle of Courant-Weyl and other such issues. >>From my recollections he did not say he had ever taught a course on mechanics. If I had obtained a copy of these notes in my mathematical youth, that would have saved me a lot of trouble. Best wishes Johannes HUEBSCHMANN Johannes Professeur ?m?rite USTL, UFR de Math?matiques UMR 8524 Laboratoire Paul Painlev? 59 655 VILLENEUVE d'ASCQ Cedex/France http://math.univ-lille1.fr/~huebschm Johannes.Huebschmann(a)math.univ-lille1.fr On Tue, 24 Oct 2017, Harry Dole wrote: > Greetings, > > As a student of Saunders Mac Lane, I took a course from him on Geometrical > Mechanics. The subject line is from the introduction. I saved the course > notes here: > > https://harrydole.com/wp/2017/09/10/saunders-mac-lane-geometrical-mechanics/ > > While not necessarily categorical, it might have some interest to the > general community. > > cheers, > > Harry Dole > [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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CT Advisory Committee - new members
by ptj＠maths.cam.ac.uk 31 Oct '17

31 Oct '17

On behalf of the CT Advisory Committee, I am pleased to announce that Marino Gran and Emily Riehl have agreed to join the Committee. The current membership of the Committee is thus: Eugenia Cheng Maria Manuel Clementino Marino Gran George Janelidze Peter Johnstone (convenor) Emily Riehl Ross Street Walter Tholen The CT Advisory Committee was set up in 2005, with Bill Lawvere as the first convenor. It exists to offer advice to potential organizers of international category theory meetings, with the aim of trying to ensure that one such meeting takes place each summer. Anyone thinking, however vaguely, about organizing such a meeting is encouraged to contact the convenor. Peter Johnstone [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Re: Kinetic Energy Is A Riemann Metric On Configuration Space=0A=
by Marta Bunge 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

Dear Ross,=0A= =0A= =0A= Thank you for your interesting message in this thread. I have two remarks = =3D=0A= to add relating your message. Concerning Saunders' 1968 "Geometrical Mechan= =3D=0A= ics" (2 parts), I just noticed that they are included in the references of = =3D=0A= "Foundations of Mechanics" by R. Abraham and J.E. Marsden, The Benjamin Cum= =3D=0A= mings Pub. Co., first edition 1978, second edition (with revisions) 1980, w= =3D=0A= hich means that they were actually useful and not just to his Chicago stude= =3D=0A= nts. This book was for a while one of my favourite textbooks on the subject= =3D=0A= . Somewhat surprisingly I found just now inside it a handwritten note that = =3D=0A= I must have put there myself, and which reads "SDG suggestions. Take equati= =3D=0A= ons of classical mechanics, do this synthetically, apply to function spaces= =3D=0A= , get equations of continuum mechanics, which are difficult". I can only th= =3D=0A= ink of Bill Lawvere having given such me (or everybody) such an advice.=0A= =0A= =0A= In connection with the calculus of variations, this is precisely what we di= =3D=0A= d in the paper by myself and my former student Murray Heggie, and which non= =3D=0A= e other than John W. Gray included in the Proceedings of the Special Sessio= =3D=0A= n on Mathematical Applications of Category Theory 89th Annual Meeeting of t= =3D=0A= he AMS, held in Denver, Colorado, January 5-9, 1983, where I gave a talk ab= =3D=0A= out it. Perusing that book after so many years, I just read (presumably for= =3D=0A= the second time, altough I have forgotten all about a first) John's introd= =3D=0A= uction to the volume which although short contains some interesting thought= =3D=0A= s. He writes there that the expression "mathematical applications" is a mis= =3D=0A= nomer as in is opinion there is (practically) no such thing as "pure" as di= =3D=0A= stinct from ":applied" category theory. He adds "Virtually all of category = =3D=0A= theory arises out of the attempt to understand some aspect of mathematics a= =3D=0A= nd place it in its appropriate context. Needless to say, this does not alwa= =3D=0A= ys work, but when it does it can lead not only to vast generalizations, but= =3D=0A= to vast clarifications and this is the purpose of category theory". I coul= =3D=0A= d not agree more.=0A= =0A= =0A= Best regards,=0A= =0A= Marta=0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= =0A= ________________________________=0A= From: Ross Street <ross.street(a)mq.edu.au>=0A= Sent: October 29, 2017 9:42:51 PM=0A= To: ptj(a)maths.cam.ac.uk=0A= Cc: Marta Bunge; Harry Dole; categories(a)mta.ca list; George Janelidze=0A= Subject: Re: categories: Re: Kinetic Energy Is A Riemann Metric On Configur= =3D=0A= ation Space=0A= =0A= Dear Harry, Marta, Peter and All,=0A= =0A= On my shelves is a slightly-under-A4-sized=0A= booklet of lectures on=0A= =0A= Algebraic Functions=0A= =0A= by Saunders Mac Lane (with the space, all three times typed!)=0A= delivered at Harvard in Spring 1939. The notes were taken=0A= by Edwin N. Nilson. The place and date on the booklet is=0A= Cambridge, Massachusetts 1947.=0A= The notes culminate in=0A= Section 25. Applications of Riemann-Roch theorem.=0A= At the time Weil had given ``an ingenious new proof''.=0A= =0A= Saunders' ``hobbies'' were many!=0A= =0A= I knew of Mac Lane's notes on mechanics and wrote to=0A= him asking for them but did not get a copy. So thank you=0A= Harry for making them available.=0A= =0A= Speaking of mechanics, I might mention that I believe=0A= Chapter 13 Classical Mechanics (last chapter)=0A= of ``Advanced Calculus'' by Loomis and Sternberg=0A= is based in large part on the PhD thesis of=0A= our colleague John W. Gray.=0A= =0A= Interesting you should mention Dr Pars, Peter.=0A= He was at the University of Sydney when I was in=0A= my final undergrad years. He taught us a course on=0A= the calculus of variations. It was very hands on with many=0A= nice examples: quite a good background for learning a=0A= more grown up approach later. So I met Pars before=0A= I met Saunders.=0A= =0A= Ross=0A= =0A= [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Kinetic Energy Is A Riemann Metric On Configuration Space
by Harry Dole 30 Oct '17

30 Oct '17

Greetings, As a student of Saunders Mac Lane, I took a course from him on Geometrical Mechanics. The subject line is from the introduction. I saved the course notes here: https://harrydole.com/wp/2017/09/10/saunders-mac-lane-geometrical-mechanics/ While not necessarily categorical, it might have some interest to the general community. cheers, Harry Dole [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Re: Kinetic Energy Is A Riemann Metric On Configuration Space
by Harry Dole 27 Oct '17

27 Oct '17

Dear Marta, It's been a while since we've talked. Hope all is well. I agree with you that Saunders might not thought of this as original work. As it happens in my experience with him it was in how he approached any topic that was illuminating. He's why I wanted category theory. With regards to George's question, yes, he saw them as he personally gave me the now scanned copy. For whatever reason, this course in the latter 70's gave him great joy, of all the courses and seminars I had the pleasure to attend with him. Perhaps, in his mind, this is a form of practical mathematics to share with all (especially the spinning ball part). As far as I know, this may have been the last actual course he taught. cheers, harry On Thu, Oct 26, 2017 at 8:23 PM, Marta Bunge <martabunge(a)hotmail.com> wrote: > Dear George, > > > Although I have yet to read the Saunders MacLane's notes on "Geometrical > Mechanics" for a course given in Chicago in 1968 in some more detail, just > perusing them seems to me that the notes in question are based on several > sources which are explicitly mentioned in them and that are well known in > the subject matter. I doubt therefore that Saunders himself may have thought > of them as original in any way. Doubtless they must have been useful to his > students as well as to himself, for instance when writing Chapter VIII > (Forms of Space) and Chapter IX (Mechanics) of his very nice book > "Mathematics Form and Function", Springer-Verlag, 1968. > > > I am still not sure myself whether to write "Mac Lane" or "MacLane", and I > certainly did not know the story behind his opting for the latter. I am sure > that these notes will be useful to anybody not familiar with the material > exposed on them, and that we should certainly thank Harry Dole for his > having provided us with them. > > > Sincerely, > > Marta > > [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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CMCS 2018 : First Call for Papers
by Henning Basold 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

Call for Papers The 14th International Workshop on Coalgebraic Methods in Computer Science (CMCS'18) Thessaloniki, Greece, 14 - 15 April 2018 (co-located with ETAPS 2018) www.coalg.org/cmcs18 Objectives and scope - -------------------- Established in 1998, the CMCS workshops aim to bring together researchers with a common interest in the theory of coalgebras, their logics, and their applications. As the workshop series strives to maintain breadth in its scope, areas of interest include neighbouring fields as well. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: - - the theory of coalgebras (including set theoretic and categorical approaches); - - coalgebras as computational and semantical models (for programming languages, dynamical systems, term rewriting, etc.); - - coalgebras in (functional, logic, answer set, object-oriented, concurrent, and constraint) programming; - - coalgebraic data types, type systems and behavioural typing; - - coinductive definition and proof principles for coalgebras (including "up-to" techniques); - - coalgebras and algebras; - - coalgebras and (modal) logic; - - coalgebraic specification and verification; - - coalgebra and control theory (notably of discrete event and hybrid systems); - - coalgebra in quantum computing; - - coalgebra and game theory; - - tools exploiting coalgebraic techniques. Venue and event - --------------- CMCS'18 will be held in Thessaloniki, Greece, co-located with ETAPS 2018, on 14 - 15 April 2018. Keynote speaker - --------------- TBC Invited speakers - ---------------- Clemens Kupke (University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom) Daniela Petrisan (University Diderot Paris 7, France) Invited tutorial speakers - ------------------------- Bob Coecke (University of Oxford, United Kingdom) Aleks Kissinger (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands) Important dates - --------------- Abstract regular papers 5 January 2018 Submission regular papers 12 January 2018 Notification regular papers 12 February 2018 Camera-ready copy 19 February 2018 Submission short contributions 23 February 2018 Notification short contributions 9 March 2018 Programme committee - ------------------- Filippo Bonchi (University of Pisa, Italy) Marcello Bonsangue (LIACS, Leiden University, The Netherlands) Corina Cirstea (University of Southampton, United Kingdom) Fredrik Dahlqvist (University College London, United Kingdom) Ugo Dal Lago (University of Bologna, Italy) Sergey Goncharov (FAU Erlangen-N??rnberg, Germany) Helle Hvid Hansen (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands) Ichiro Hasuo (National Institute of Informatics, Japan) Bart Jacobs (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands) Bartek Klin (University of Warsaw, Poland) Paul Levy (University of Birmingham, United Kingdom) Stefan Milius (FAU Erlangen-N??rnberg, Germany) Lawrence Moss (Indiana University, United States) Dirk Pattinson (Australian National University, Australia) Dusko Pavlovic (University of Hawai???i at M??noa, United States) Daniela Petrisan (University Diderot Paris 7, France) Damien Pous (CNRS, ENS Lyon, France) Juriaan Rot (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands) Jan Rutten (CWI/Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands) Lutz Schr??der (FAU Erlangen-N??rnberg, Germany) Alexandra Silva (University College London, United Kingdom) Ana Sokolova (University of Salzburg, Austria) Henning Urbat (Technische Universit??t Braunschweig, Germany) Jamie Vicary (University of Oxford, United Kingdom) Publicity chair - --------------- Henning Basold (CNRS, ENS Lyon, France) PC chair - -------- Corina Cirstea (University of Southampton, United Kingdom) Steering committee - ------------------ Filippo Bonchi (University of Pisa, Italy) Marcello Bonsangue (LIACS, Leiden University, The Netherlands) Corina Cirstea (University of Southampton, United Kingdom) Ichiro Hasuo (National Institute of Informatics, Japan) Bart Jacobs (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands) Bartek Klin (University of Warsaw, Poland) Alexander Kurz (University of Leicester, United Kingdom) Marina Lenisa (University of Udine, Italy) Stefan Milius (chair), FAU Erlangen-N??rnberg, Germany Larry Moss (Indiana University, United States) Dirk Pattinson (Australian National University, Australia) Jan Rutten (CWI/Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands) Lutz Schr??der (FAU Erlangen-N??rnberg, Germany) Alexandra Silva (University College London, United Kingdom) Submission guidelines - --------------------- We solicit two types of contributions: regular papers and short contributions. Regular papers must be original, unpublished, and not submitted for publication elsewhere. They should not exceed 20 pages in length in Springer LNCS style. Short contributions may describe work in progress, or summarise work submitted to a conference or workshop elsewhere. They should be no more than two pages. Regular papers and short contributions should be submitted electronically as a PDF file via the Easychair system at http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cmcs2018. The proceedings of CMCS 2018 will include all accepted regular papers and will be published post-conference as a Springer volume in the IFIP-LNCS series. Accepted short contributions will be bundled in a technical report. [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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PhD positions
by rosicky 24 Oct '17

24 Oct '17

The Department of Mathematics and Statistics at Masaryk University invites applications for fellowships for PhD studies, commencing during the year 2018, at the date depending on mutual agreement http://www.math.muni.cz/aktuality/497-call-for-phd-fellowships.html [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Sad news: Kosta Dosen
by Peter Schroeder-Heister 22 Oct '17

22 Oct '17

Yesterday, 21 October 2017, our dear friend and colleague Kosta Dosen passed away; losing his long struggle with cancer. He is survived by his daughter Ana. The service and funeral will take place at the New Cemetery in Belgrade on 24 October 2017, 12:00 (noon). Born 1954 in Belgrade (Serbia), Kosta Dosen graduated from the University of Belgrade in 1977 and received a doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1981. He became a professor at the Mathematical Institute Belgrade in 1982, was professor at the Department of Computer Science of the University of Toulouse (France) from 1994 to 1998, and held the Chair of Logic in the Philosophical Faculty of the University of Belgrade since 2003. He had visiting posts at universities including Notre Dame (USA), Montpellier (France) and Tuebingen (Germany). Kosta Dosen's D.Phil. on "Logical Constants" was supervised by Michael Dummett and Dana Scott. As part of this, and in subsequent publications, he developed a proof-theoretic characterization of logical constants by means of so-called "double-line rules", which has become widely discussed since and is one of the major approaches in the debate on what logicality should mean. Working on the proof theory (and partly also model theory) of logics with restricted structural rules, he coined the term "substructural logic" at a conference in Tuebingen in 1990. However, the main topic of his intellectual life was the field of categorial proof theory that was opened up by Lambek, Lawvere and others. Kosta Dosen shaped the development of this field in many respects, in particular by his books on "Cut Elimination in Categories" and "Proof-Theoretical Coherence" (the latter together with Zoran Petric). He was a strong adherent and promotor of what Prawitz called "general proof theory", which is the study of proofs as objects in their own right rather than under the aspect of provability. This implied for him that the question of the identity of proofs was the central topic of general proof theory, where he was particularly interested in the relationship between normalization-based and generality-based approaches. In recent years he worked with great passion on Goedel's work including unpublished manuscripts in his Nachlass. A critical edition (together with Milos Adzic) of Goedel's Notre Dame course in logic has just appeared. Kosta Dosen was a gifted and dedicated teacher, who was an inspiration to students and colleagues alike. His explanations will live on in the pages of his textbook on elementary logic (in Serbian). A further, and more thorough discussion of Kosta Dosen's achievements will be published at a later stage. Kosta will be greatly missed by relatives, friends and colleagues, and all who had the good fortune to know him. -- Prof. Peter Schroeder-Heister Department of Computer Science University of Tuebingen Sand 13 72076 Tuebingen Germany e-mail: psh(a)uni-tuebingen.de http://ls.inf.uni-tuebingen.de [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Myles Tierney
by Joyal, André 19 Oct '17

19 Oct '17

Dear collegues, A very sad news: my friend and collaborator Myles Tierney passed away this morning at home in New Jersey after a long illness. His wife Anne Bergeron was with him. He had turned 80 years old last month. I will write later about his contributions to category theory, his fields. -André PS: Anne's email address: bergeron.anne(a)uqam.ca [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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Research Fellowship at Leeds
by Nicola Gambino 16 Oct '17

16 Oct '17

[Apologies for multiple postings] Dear friends colleagues, The University of Leeds is advertising a Research Fellowship to work with me on the project “Univalent type theories: models, equalities, and coherence”. The deadline for applications is 7th November 2017. For further information on the position and instructions on how to apply, please see https://jobs.leeds.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=MAPMA1066 In particular, see the document “Candidate Brief”, available for download at the bottom of the page. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any queries. With best wishes, Nicola == Dr Nicola Gambino School of Mathematics, University of Leeds Web: http://www1.maths.leeds.ac.uk/~pmtng/ [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]

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