Last updated: February 14, 2018.
The Bellairs Workshop in Number Theory 2018
Unitary Shimura varieties and modular forms

Organizers: Eyal Goren and Henri Darmon (McGill), Steve Kudla (Toronto)

Arrival: Friday, April 27. Departure: Friday, May 4.

Lectures begin on the morning of April 28 and finish on the evening of May 3.


Our goal this year is to study several recent developments in the arithmetic and geometry of unitary Shimura varieties. In particular, we will deviate from the usual format of "key note speaker and supporting lectures", and instead have the program organized as several series of talks, each series presenting recent and related developments. While we plan to have series of talks on rather diverse topics, they will be linked by being in the subject areas of the workshop. This includes, for example, a series of lectures on the modularity of a generating series of divisors on U(n-1, 1) to be organized by Steve Kudla. Based on confirmation of participation, the organizers will develop other series of talks in collaboration with the participants.

Program

The Bellairs Research Institute

Recreational Activities

Participants

Getting to Bellairs

Coming prepared

 

The facilities

 Pictures

 

Program
For a detailed program see here; for a quick heads-up use the following:

 

Day

Morning  9:00 - 11:00

Evening  7:30 - 10:00

Friday

------ (arrival)


Saturday

Kudla, Smithling

De Shalit, Eischen

Sunday

No scheduled scientific activity (although we may organize an excursion)

Nothing planned at present

Monday

Kudla, Howard

Mantovan, Jetchev

Tuesday

 Howard, Ehlen
 Rosso, Levin

Wednesday

Kudla, Sankaran

Allen, Mocz

Thursday

Amir-Khosravi, Li

Vonk, Darmon

Friday

----- (departure)

 

 

 

 

Participants (partial list)



 Name Affiliation
 		Arrival
 		Departure
1
 Allen, Patrick
 Urbana-Champaign
 April 27/AA 2393/21:35 May 4/AA 2725/07:00
2
 Amir-Khosravi, Zavosh
 Caltech
 April 27/AA 1089/14:38
 May 4/AA 1089/15:44
3
 Bellaiche, Joel
 Brandeis
 		April 27/AA 1089/14:38 May 3/ -- /15:37
4
 Bellovin, Rebecca
 Imperial
 		 April 27/Virgin Atlantic 29/15:00 May 4/Virgin Atlantic 30/17:15
5
 Bertolini, Massimo
 Essen
 		April 27/BA 2155/15:05
 May 4/BA 2154/16:55
6
 Darmon, Henri
 McGill
 		April 27/WestJet 2512/13:46
 May 4/WestJet 2513/14:46
7
 De Shalit, Ehud
 Hebrew U
 		April 27/AC 1714/14:15 May 4/AC 1715/14:30
8
 Ehlen, Stephan
 Koln
 		April 27/AC 1714/14:15 May 4/AC 1715/14:30
9
 Eischen, Ellen
 U Oregon
 		April 27/AA 2393/21:35 May 4/AA 2725/07:00
10
 Fornea, Michele
 McGill
 		April 27/WestJet 2512/13:46 May 4/WestJet 2513/14:45
11
 Goren, Eyal
 McGill
 		April 27/AC 1714/14:15
 May 4/AC 1715/14:30
12
 Howard, Ben
 Boston College
 		April 28/JetBlue 0025/12:53
May 4/JetBlue 0662 /19:03
13
 Jetchev, Dimitar
 EPFL
 		April 27/BA 2155/15:05 (transportation not needed) 
14
 Kudla, Steve
 U Toronto
 		April 27/AC 1714/14:15
 (transportation not needed)
15
 Levin, Brandon
 U Arizona
 		April 27/AA 2393/21:35 May 3/AA 2725/07:00
16
 Lilienfeldt, David
 McGill
 		April 27/WestJet 2512/13:46 May 4/WestJet 2513/14:45
17
 Li, Qirui
 Columbia
 April 27/AA 2393/21:35
 May 4/AA 2725/07:00
18
 Liu, Zheng
 IAS
 April 27/JetBlue 385/17:06 May 4/JetBlue 662/13:50
19
 Mantovan, Elena
 Caltech
 April 27/AA 260/14:38
 May 4/AA 1089/15:44
20
 Mocz, Lucia
 Princeton
 April 27/Jet Blue 261/12:42
May 4/Jet Blue 1562/18:00
21
 Pozzi, Alice
 McGill
 		April 27/AA 1089/14:38 May4/AA 2725/07:00
22
 Rosso, Giovanni
 Concordia
 		April 27/AC 1714/14:15 May 4/AC 1715/14:30
23
 Sankaran, Siddarth
 U Manitoba
 		April 27/AC 1714/14:15
 May 3/AC 1715/14:30
24
 Schnidman, Ari
 Boston College
 		April 27/AA 2393/21:35
 May 4/AA 1089/15:44
25
 Smithling, Brian John Hopkins
 		April 27/JetBlue 385/17:06
 (transportation not needed) 
26
 Vonk, Jan McGill
 		April 27/WestJet 2512/13:46 May 4/WestJet 2513/14:45
27
 Wang, Haining McGill
 April 27/WestJet 2512/13:46 May 4/WestJet 2513/14:45



The Bellairs Research Institute
Here is a link to the Institute's website. It is located in St. James, which is just to the north of Holetown. The exact location is
13.192104, -59.640130 (I think... you can plug these coordinates in  http://maps.google.ca)

 


Getting to Bellairs
Here you can find maps of Barabados, as well as much information about tourism. The local airport is in Bridgetown, Barbados (code BGI), while the Bellairs institue is more towards the north of the island, on its west coast. The easiest is to share a taxi from the airport to the institute. Most taxi drivers will know where is the Bellairs reserach institue; if not, tell them is in St. James, north to Holetown. When you pass the St. James Parish and the Folkstone marine park look for the Bellairs research institute on the left (sea side) of the road. Hook up at the airport with other participants based on arrival information to reduce the cost.


View Larger Map

 


The facilities

  • The institute is well equipped for marine research. One can rent air tanks there very cheaply. Regardless, it is an excellent place for scuba diving and swimming, but you should bring your own gear (good quality mask and snorkel can be purchased for a reasonable price at a local sport store).
  • Most people take their breakfast at the institute, but this is optional. Dinner at the institute is mandatory and is charged separately at $25US. This is not the cheapest, but the food is great and local and in generous portions and it is a nice way for us to get together. For lunch everyone is on his/her own. Usually people get together and go to one of the restaurants in Holetown. There is a kitchen there where, if needed, you can store food and cook for yourself if you cannot eat the food served.
  • There is a flat rate of $15US for use of internet for the whole week. There is wireless in the Institute and also a few terminals and a printer (not for heavy jobs!). Laptop is the easiest way to be connected and to call home (using Skype, say). There is a public phone at the institute. 
  • Though Barbados in the large is a safe place, there have been cases of thefts from rooms in the institute. Some prudence is recommended: do not leave valuables unattended. Lock your room at night and do not leave valuables near the window (allowing someone from the outside to get to them). The institute has a safe where you can deposit your valuables.
  • There is a modest size blackboard, and there is a data projector (to use with a laptop).
  • Please wash your body from sand very carefully using the taps outside (in the main yard, for example). Sand can cause very difficult problems of blockage at the showers.
  • The institute accepts Visa, Mastercard, cash and checques, which gives flexibility in settling your bill.
  • The prices of room are as per the posted rate on the Institute website. Postdocs and "up" are considered research faculty and students, well.. as students. The price depends on the specific room. Students, as a rule, will be staying at the more affordable rooms.
  • Breakfast at a cost of $7 will be served on Monday morning (it includes toast, cereal, fruit, tea, coffee, juice and something hot like pancakes, eggs or bacon). After that we’ll ask people to choose either to have breakfast at the institute for the rest of the week, or not (at the same cost). One has the option of buying groceries and preparing breakfast independently, however what they offer seem to me a rather fair deal and the only option people may wish to take is to have their breakfast outside the institute altogether (there are no obvious choices, though).

 


Recreational Activities

  • Here is a link to a tourist information site.
  • The institute is located 1 minute walk (literally) from the beach. It is a beautiful beach with a coral reef. The Folkstone marine park is next door.
  • Some world-class cricket (an acquired taste...).
  • Bridgetown is a fun city to visit.
  • Crane beach on the east-coast is great fun (waves and white sands).

 


Coming prepared

  • The local currency is Bajan dollars. US dollars are accepted everywhere, at a fair rate, and it is easy to withdraw money from any ATM. You can change some money at the airport before exiting, though the taxi will accept US dollars.
  • Barbados is hot and sunny. Some information about the weather can be found here and claims almost constant temperature during night and day at the range of 25-30 Celsius. In particular, sunscreen is a must and one should plan on summer-like weather with the possibility of showers and occasional chilly evenings. A musquito repellent is also highly recommended.
  • The institute is in St. James, which is a short walking distance to Holetown, where there is an excellent supermarket, banks, pharmacies and souvenir shops and so on, as well as cheap to expensive (and excellent) restaurants, cafes and bars. If you have a special diet (kosher, halal, vegan, ...) it is worth doing some research before hand and making sure you have what you need. Dinners in the institute will not have special dishes prepared for people with special diet. Life, in general, gravitates between the institute and Holetown. For an occasional trip to Bridgetown the public buses are a fun experience and cheap, and shared taxis are a reasonable expense. Normally, one would not rent a car for the stay.
  • Stationary is not provided.
  • Coffee lovers should be mindful that the local coffee is instant coffee and bring with them ground coffee and filters.
  • Here is some screenshot of the area with indication where you can get basic stuff like water, sunscreen, etc..