Symmetries and Integrability of Difference Equations (SIDE) VII Melbourne, Australia July 10th - July 14th, 2006

SIDE is a series of biennial conferences devoted to the study of integrable difference equations and related topics such as ordinary and partial difference equations, analytic difference equations, orthogonal polynomials and special functions, symmetries and reductions, difference geometry, integrable discrete systems on graphs, integrable dynamical mappings, discrete Painlevé equations, singularity confinement, algebraic entropy, complexity and growth of multivalued mappings, representations of affine Weyl groups, quantum mappings and field theories on space-time lattices.

Invited Speakers:

R.J. Baxter	Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
J.J. Duistermaat	Utrecht University, The Netherlands
P. Forrester	The University of Melbourne, Australia
R.G. Halburd	Loughborough University, UK
U. Pinkall	Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
H. Sakai	The University of Tokyo, Japan
T. Tokihiro	The University of Tokyo, Japan
M. van der Put	University of Groningen, The Netherlands
A. Zelevinsky	Northeastern University, Boston, USA

Scope:

The conference will feature invited lectures, general contributed sessions and poster sessions. Themes covered include:

Integrability testing

Discrete geometry and visualization

Laurent phenomena and cluster algebras

Ultra-discrete systems

Random matrix theory

Algebraic-geometric approaches to integrability

Yang-Baxter equations

Quantum and classical integrable systems

Difference Galois theory

Participants

Titles and Abstracts of Talks and Posters

Program

Map (showing accommodation and lecture venue)

Conference Schedule:

• The conference will start on Monday, July 10 in the morning and conclude on the afternoon of Friday, July 14. Participants should be aware that Monday and Friday will be full days in the program and plan their arrival and departure accordingly, e.g. arrival on Saturday, July 8 and departure on Saturday, July 15 (remember jet lag ). Wednesday afternoon will be free. The conference dinner will be on Thursday evening.
  
  

Note: On Saturday, July 15, there will be a one-day `side' meeting which involves additional lectures by the plenary speaker Professor J.J. Duistermaat. Further details may be found here (pdf).

Participation:

• To attend, please email side7@maths.unsw.edu.au: your name and affiliation, your research interests, your contact details. Please paste into your email the completed template given here.

  If you wish to be considered for a contributed talk (20-30 minutes duration) or poster, also include in the template a title, abstract and 1-page CV (indicate your preference for talk or poster). Contributing speakers are eligible for a financial contribution that will substantially cover their accommodation costs for the conference period.

  Applications for contributed talks/posters must arrive by Friday, April 28, 2006. Successful applicants will be notified in early May.
  
  

• We are particularly keen to attract graduate students and younger researchers to the conference and hope to be able to offer limited travel and accommodation support for graduate students or early-career postdoctoral researchers based in Australia. To apply, please email side7@maths.unsw.edu.au your details as above and, if you are a graduate student, have your supervisor also email us in support of your application.
  
  

Accommodation:

• Hotels: Rooms are available at two hotels near The University of Melbourne where the conference will take place. Participants must email directly the hotels with their reservation requirements and quote the corresponding group block code. It will not be necessary to provide a credit card number until the participant checks in.
  • Hotel Ibis Melbourne:
    Rate: AUD 107 per night excl. breakfast
    Email: H1564-RE03@accor.com
    Group block code: SIDE100706

  • The Travel Inn:
    Rate: AUD 120 per night excl. breakfast
    Email: res@thetravelinn.com.au
    Group block code: SIDEVII
  
  
• Residential colleges: Student rooms are available on the campus of The University of Melbourne. These are (single) rooms with shared facilities (from AUD 50 per night incl. breakfast). Dinner can be purchased at the college for an additional amount depending on the college. To secure a room, please email your reservation (and dinner) requirements to Gerard Healy.

Travel Information:

• A taxi from Melbourne Airport to the Carlton area (the location of the hotels/colleges and the AMSI building) will cost approx AUD 40.

• A cheaper alternative is to catch a bus from the airport. Skybus will cost AUD 15 one-way (AUD 24 return) from the airport to the Southern Cross Station in Spencer Street. From there, one can connect with a FREE minibus to the Travel Inn Hotel or Hotel Ibis (provided you are travelling at appropriate times of the day). No prior booking is needed for Skybus.

• An alternative bus service from the airport is operated by Viator. It will take you direct to your hotel for AUD 21 one-way BUT requires booking and payment at least 48 hours prior to the time of travel.

Organizers:

John A.G. Roberts  (UNSW)
Wolfgang K. Schief (UNSW)

Scientific Committee:

Nalini Joshi (The University of Sydney)
Frank Nijhoff (University of Leeds)
Reinout Quispel (La Trobe University)
Colin Rogers (UNSW)

Sponsors:

We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the

ARC Centre of Excellence for Mathematics and Statistics of Complex Systems (MASCOS)
ARC Complex Open Systems Research Network (COSNet)
Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute (AMSI)
Journal of Physics A, IOP