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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: EP/C524861/1
Title: Topological problems in generalised geometry
Principal Investigator: Hitchin, Professor NJ
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department: Mathematical Institute
Organisation: University of Oxford
Scheme: Mathematics Small Grant PreFEC
Starts: 01 April 2005 Ends: 31 July 2005 Value (£): 5,844
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Algebra & Geometry Mathematical Physics
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
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Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
Mathematicians working in differential geometry have to formulate their equations in a way that is independent of the choice of coordinates - the way inwhich we choose to attach numbers to a point on a surface say. In the plane we could use Cartesian coordinates or polar coordinates. The same is true in general relativity where coordinate independence has another more physical interpretation in terms of the equivalence of two observers' views of the universe. Some recent work in String theory has introduced an extra component into this change of coordinates issue - the so-called B-field. Mathematically it is a bit mysterious but there are a number of geometrical objects, very natural to define, which incoporate this extra symmetry and these so-called generalized geometries are now being developed. They begin to answer in a concrete form some of the questions asked by physicists, and this proposal is intended to dig more deeply into the topological questions related to these structures. Just as topological questions are of importance in the structure of the universe, so they are equally important in this part of mathematics.
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Organisation Website: http://www.ox.ac.uk