The Santa Fe Workshop on New Directions in Simplicial Quantum Gravity was held on the campus of St. John's College, Santa Fe, July 28 to August 8, 1997. The Workshop was sponsored by the Theoretical Division, and the T-6 (Theoretical Astrophysics) and T-8 (Elementary Particles and Field Theory) groups at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). There were roughly 30 participants and the aim of the workshop was to explore the connections between simplicial and continuum quantum gravity in light of the new developments in the areas listed below.
Dynamical Triangulations
Renormalization Group
Path Integral Measure
Conformal Factor
Regge Calculus
Random Surfaces
Topology Change
Causal Sets
Numerical Techniques
One overview talk in the morning session, including discussion (10am - 12 noon).
One or two more specialized seminars in the afternoon session (2pm - 4pm).
This format was meant to leave ample time for questions and foster informal discussions between participants.
We have scanned in the transparencies of the talks that were given at the workshop (more will be added as they become available). They are listed alphabetically by the speaker's last name and may be viewed by first clicking on the link in this paragraph's title and then on the title of the talk desired.
The files are in compressed (gzipped) postscript format which are automatically uncompressed by most web browsers. Since some of them are rather large, caution is recommended when downloading. Be sure that your local disk and web browser has sufficient memory to accomodate the ungzipped postscript file(s) before downloading. Hardcopies are available on request if necessary. Send email requests to lweaver@lanl.gov (Leslie Weaver).
The site of the workshop was the campus of St John's College, a small liberal arts college located at
which is in the foothills about 2 miles east of downtown Santa Fe.
Housing was provided without charge for all invited participants on St. John's campus from the afternoon of Sunday July 27 to the morning of Saturday August 9 in furnished private rooms in suites of five, or blocs of dormitory rooms (shared bath). Kitchen and laundry facilities are available in buildings adjoining the housing complex.
Invited participants were encouraged to invite one student and/or post-doc to join them at the workshop, and several junior scientists participated on this basis. Dormitory rooms at St. John's were reserved for this purpose, at a 50% subsidized cost of $390. ($30./day for 13 days) --subject to our fixed budgetary constraints. This housing cost was payable at registration the first morning of the meeting, July 28.
Santa Fe is the oldest capital city in the US, the third largest art market (after NY and LA) with dozens of galleries, the site of the Santa Fe Opera, 5 museums, nearly 200 restaurants, and numerous other cultural activities. Santa Fe is at an altitude of 7,000 ft. (2100 met.). The climate is generally cool and dry (average humidity is around 20%), with high temperatures in the summer rarely exceeding 86F (30C), falling rapidly after sunset into the 60's because of the low humidity. The July-August period is by far the most popular time to visit "the City Different." Many shops and art galleries are open until late at night, and there is an almost continuous series of events centered around the historic Plaza, culminating in the world-renowned Indian Market in August. There are ample opportunities for outdoor recreation in the vicinity. The area is scattered with native American Indian settlements and archaeological sites nearly 1,000 years old.
Emil Mottola, Warner Miller, and Salman Habib
Theoretical Division,
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545 USA
Problems or questions may be directed to the special account,
workshop, set up for this workshop, to Leslie Weaver the T-8 group secretary, (1-505-667-5336), or to Emil Mottola (1-505-667-7646) Emil.