Shanks Workshop (March 28 – 29, 2026)
Von Neumann Entropy and Quantum Symmetries
Vanderbilt University
March 28 – 29, 2026
An exciting workshop at the interface of operator algebras and quantum
physics entitled “Von Neumann Entropy and Quantum Symmetries” will be
held at Vanderbilt’s mathematics department on the weekend March 28-29,
2026. The goal of the workshop is to bring together a group of
mathematicians and physicists who are interested in exploring ideas
and techniques from the theory of von Neumann algebras that lead to a
natural concept of quantum or non-invertible symmetries, going beyond
traditional symmetries organized by a group. These ideas could be relevant
to topological states of matter, quantum lattice models, quantum spin chains,
quantum information theory, conformal field theory, and, perhaps, quantum
gravity. The workshop is built around Feng Xu (UCR) and his work on von
Neumann entropy and algebraic quantum field theory for which he was invited
to speak at the ICM 2026 in Philadelphia.
More information about the workshop, including a schedule of talks can be
found on the workshop webpage:
Shanks Workshop (March 28 – 29, 2026)
Everyone is welcome to participate in the workshop. There is no registration
fee, but we do ask people to register.
We have assembled an outstanding group of speakers and are looking forward
to a lively and inspiring workshop.
The workshop is organized by Dietmar Bisch, Julio Caceres, Quan Chen and
Junhwi Lim. We gratefully acknowledge support by Vanderbilt’s Shanks
Endowment, Vanderbilt’s Department of Mathematics and Bisch’s US ARO grant
W911NF2310026.