Shanks Workshop 2026: “Von Neumann Entropy and Quantum Symmetries”
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 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.