On behalf of the Abel Board, the Norwegian Mathematical Society organizes the Abel Symposia, a series of high level research conferences. The topic for the 2007 Abel Symposium is Algebraic Topology, with emphasis on the interaction between the themes:
The conference will take place at the Department of Mathematics, University of Oslo, from Sunday August 5th to Friday August 10th. There will be plenary lectures from Monday August 6th through Thursday August 9th, including survey lectures on the major recent advances in the three themes, together with more specialized lectures.
The survey lectures will be held by John Baez (UCR), Mike Hopkins (Harvard), Jacob Lurie (Harvard), Alexander Merkurjev (UCLA), Fabien Morel (München) and Stephan Stolz (Notre Dame).
More specialized lectures will be held by Matt Ando (UIUC), Mark Behrens (MIT), Ralph Cohen (Stanford), Hélène Esnault (Essen), Dan Freed (Austin), Lars Hesselholt (MIT/Nagoya), Uwe Jannsen (Regensburg), Marc Levine (Northeastern), Charles Rezk (UIUC), Markus Rost (Bielefeld), Neil Strickland (Sheffield), Dennis Sullivan (SUNY), Ulrike Tillmann (Oxford), Bertrand Toën (Toulouse) and Vladimir Voevodsky (IAS).
The following invited experts have agreed to participate: Christian Haesemeyer (UIUC), Rick Jardine (UWO), Burt Totaro (Cambridge), Charles Weibel (Rutgers), William G. Dwyer (Notre Dame), John Greenlees (Sheffield), Ib Madsen (Aarhus), Niko Naumann (Regensburg) and Jeff Smith (UBC).
About 60 more out-of-town participants are expected.
The PDF conference poster can be found here.
The PDF titles and abstracts can be found here. [Last updated on August 8th.]
The following presentations are available here:
We assume most visitors will fly to Oslo Airport Gardermoen (OSL), but see also the section on other routes below. See http://www.osl.no/ and http://travelguide.osl.no/ for more information about the airport. The airport is 50 km northeast of the city center.
To go downtown, the fastest route is to take the Airport Express Train (Flytoget) to the National Theatre stop (Nationaltheateret), and to walk 700 meters from there to the Stefan Hotel. Alternatively, you might take the Airport Express Coach (SAS Flybussen) to the stop at St. Olavs plass, and walk 300 meters to the Stefan Hotel from there. A taxi from Gardermoen to Oslo costs 500 - 700 Norwegian Kroner (NOK).
When you have passed through customs and reached the arrival hall (see the section on money below if you wish to get cash at this point), go ahead at an angle to the right, past the Bus Information Desk, and exit to the outside through two revolving doors. The coach (white, labeled SAS Flybussen) leaves from platform 9 at the nearby bus terminal, with departures at 0, 20 and 40 minutes past each hour. The bus journey takes about 50 minutes; a round trip ticket is 220 NOK. See http://www.flybussen.no/oslo/ for more information.
Take the bus (headed for the SAS Scandinavia Hotel) to the stop "St. Olavs plass" downtown. Walk back in the direction the bus came from, turn right and traverse the zebra-crossing into "Universitetsgata", and turn left at the next crossing into "Kristian Augusts gate". The main entrance to the Stefan Hotel is on the right hand side of that street, shortly before you reach "C.J. Hambros plass". The total distance is about 300m.
When you have passed through customs and reached the arrival hall (see the section on money below if you wish to get cash at this point), turn right and continue to the end of the hall. Follow signs to "Flytoget" or the "Airport Express Train". Near the end of the arrival hall you can buy a ticket at the counters on the right hand side, or from vending machines nearby. Current prices are 160 NOK one way, per adult. One child under 15 travels for free with a paying adult. See http://www.flytoget.no/ for more information about the train. Use the ticket to pass through the gates, and take the escalator down to the track level, or take the elevator if you have much luggage. The departing train usually waits on the right hand side.
From July 8th to Sunday August 5th the trains depart every 20 minutes from the airport, leaving at 16, 36 and 56 minutes past each hour. (First departure 05:36, last departure 00:36.) The train stops at Lillestrøm, Oslo Central Station (Oslo S) and then at the National Theatre (Nationaltheatret). The journey takes 27 minutes.
(Starting on Monday August 6th, the trains depart every 10 minutes, with half the trains ending at Oslo Central Station (Oslo S), and half the trains continuing past the National Theatre (Nationaltheatret) to "Asker". So if you arrive a day late, and want to go to the National Theatre station, you should board a train to "Asker".)
The National Theatre train station is underground. Exit to street level, go to a hemispherical fountain and continue a few steps north to "Karl Johans gate". Follow it away from the Royal Castle (the yellow building on top of the hill) to the crossing with "Rosenkrantz' gate". Turn left and go two blocks, past "Kristian IV's gate", to the open square called "C.J. Hambros plass". The entrance to the hotel is around the corner to the left, practically in "Kristian Augusts gate".
The whole route is about 772 meters. If this is too far for you to walk, consider taking the bus connection described above, or getting off of the Airport Express Train one stop earlier, at Oslo Central Station (Oslo S), and follow the instructions for getting to the hotel from there. That involves one more change and a short metro ride, however.
Go to the central arrival hall of the train station. Facing the arrival/departure information boards, a ticket office and the platforms, you should turn 120 degrees left and continue north, down two flights of escalators, to reach the entry to the subway/metro (T-bane) system. Look for a capital "T" in a circle indicating the subway system; this metro stop is called "Jernbanetorget". Get a ticket for the metro (20 NOK, see the ticket information below), and descend down one more escalator (the right-hand one) to the metro platform. Take any line (number 1 - 6) one stop west to "Stortinget". Exit from the metro system (at the "T" in "Lille Grensen" near the right hand end of the map above), and follow the streets "Grensen" and "Pilestredet" to "C.J. Hambros plass". The Stefan Hotel is across the square, on the left hand side. The entrance is around the corner, practically in "Kristian Augusts gate". The distance from the Stortinget T-bane stop to the hotel is about 249 meters.
If you arrive by train to Oslo Central Station (Oslo S), use the instructions above. If you arrive at Sandefjord Lufthavn Torp please look at http://www.torp.no/ . There is a bus connection from Torp to the Oslo Bus Terminal, which is quite close to Oslo Central Station (Oslo S). The bus trip takes about 1 hour and 50 minutes.
Thon Hotel Stefan
Rosenkrantz gate 1
0159 Oslo
Phone: (+47) 23 31 55 00
Telefax: (+47) 23 31 55 55
E-mail: stefan@thonhotels.no
Web: http://www.thonhotels.no/stefan
The organizing committee, the invited speakers, and the invited participants are mostly booked at the Stefan Hotel from Sunday August 5th to Friday August 10th, at the reservation code 363-9000. Those with other arrival or departure dates, or in double/triple rooms, have other reservation codes. Presumably giving your name will suffice for check-in. These hotel bills will be sent directly to the symposium organizers.
If you are booked at reservation code 363-9010, you must please settle your hotel bill with the hotel before departure. This also applies to some other reservation codes.
To go from the Stefan Hotel to the Blindern campus of the University of Oslo, where the Abel symposium lectures take place, we recommend taking tram line 17 or 18 or subway (T-bane) line 3, 4 or 5. See the section below on tickets for how to buy tickets for public transport.
Both of the tram lines 17 and 18 (light blue electric streetcars) go from the stop "Tinghuset" right across C.J. Hambros plass in front of the Stefan Hotel, back past the hotel in the direction of "Rikshospitalet", to the stop "Universitetet Blindern". That's the 11th stop, and the trip takes about 11 minutes. See http://www.trafikanten.no/ for exact departure times - there is one tram every 7-10 minutes much of the day.
Step out of the tram at "Universitetet Blindern". You are now (hopefully) near the light blue dot near the word "Abel" in Niels Henrik Abels vei on the campus map above. Turn left relative to the direction of travel of the tram, and enter the campus area. Continue down a paved axis between two tall red brick buildings, and continue until you reach the triple fountain and the open square between buildings 3 and 14 on the map. Cross over the square and go down one wide flight of steps. The lectures take place in the (smooth black stone) University Library called Georg Sverdrups hus, building 27 on the map, in Auditorium 1. Its main entrance is to your left after you descended the wide steps.
The subway (= T-bane) lines 3 to Sognsvann, 4 to Ringen and 5 to Storo all go from the downtown stations "Stortinget" and "Nationaltheatret" past "Majorstuen" to "Blindern". Step out at the "Blindern" station (on line 4, with white cars, you must touch a button on the doors for them to open). You are now (hopefully) near the white "T" in a dark blue dot labeled "Blindern" on the dark blue dot on the map to the right. Walk uphill in "Blindernveien" until you reach the campus. Continue on a paved path, between a wooden villa and a grass lawn, to the (smooth black stone) University Library right ahead. This is building 27 on the map, called Georg Sverdrups hus, with the main entrance facing you. The lectures take place in Auditorium 1.
All lectures take place in Auditorium 1 of Georg Sverdrups hus (the University Library), which is the black stone building 27 on the map above. Its main entrance is on the northwest-facing side, and the auditorium is to your left when you enter through the main entrance. The auditorium has over 450 seats; the best seats for the audience will probably be in the front half of the room.
There will be coffee, tea, cakes or fruit served in the lounge area just outside of the auditorium, at 8:30 - 9:30 on Monday August 6th, at 10:30 - 11:00 Monday through Thursday, and at 15:30 - 16:30 Monday, Wednesday and Thursday.
There will be two or three free-standing blackboards available in the lounge area, for your discussions. There will also be a table with fliers and other information from some math publishers. Pads of writing paper will be available from the organizers.
There are about 15 public computer terminals in the library section of Georg Sverdrups hus, directly across from Auditorium 1. After entering the doors to the library, the terminals are on your right. No password or user account is needed to use these machines, but they only allow you to operate a web browser. This should suffice for using web mail and similar services. You cannot connect USB-sticks, floppy-disks/CDs/DVDs or similar external devices to these public terminals.
Official participants will receive a guest user account for the University of Oslo computer system, for the duration of their stay. They should contact local organizer Bjørn Jahren during the symposium to obtain their individual user name and password. There are university computer terminals on the ground floor of the library section of Georg Sverdrups hus, and computer terminal rooms on the 6th, 8th and 9th floors of Niels Henrik Abels hus (the Mathematics department, see below).
The Mathematics department is in Niels Henrik Abels hus, which is building 14 on the same map. This is a twelve-story red brick building. Beware that in early August an access card is needed to enter or leave the building after 16:00 and to enter the individual floors after 15:00. The Mathematics Library is on the 2nd floor.
There is a bookstore "Akademika", drugstore (Apotek), bank and post office in building 2, and a grocery store "Bunnpris" in building 3. The university health services (Helsetjenesten) have offices upstairs in building 2.
There is a cafeteria "Sverdrup" for lunch upstairs in Georg Sverdrups hus (the same building as the lectures).
There is a larger cafeteria "Frederikke", upstairs in building 3 on the map, which is a wide two-story building across the campus square from the Mathematics department.
"Frida" is an a la carte restaurant for lunch on the ground floor of Frederikke, also in building 3. Here is their summer menu. They start serving at noon, but take orders starting at 10 am. To speed up their service you may prefer to go by there and order your lunch in the morning break (10:30 - 11:00 every day).
There are competent baristas at the coffee-bar "Georg", also upstairs in the same building as the lectures.
In building 27, there are restrooms one floor down from the lounge area, down the staircase in the back of the main hall. There is also an elevator at the back of that hall.
In building 3, the restrooms are on the ground floor, some distance in to the right from the main entrance.
This day is the 205th anniversary of Niels Henrik Abel's birth.
All (official and inofficial) participants of the Abel Symposium are cordially invited to a reception on
Sunday August 5th from 16:00 to 19:00at the "Juristen bar" of the Stefan Hotel. It is located right next to the hotel lobby, facing "C.J. Hambros plass". A light meal (sandwiches, finger food, tapas, fruit, etc.) will be served, free of charge, and drinks will be available for purchase.
An excursion is planned after the last talk on Tuesday, and before the conference dinner, i.e., about from 16:00 to 19:00. The main plan is to go to the Viking Ship Museum, which is close to the restaurant "Dronningen". An alternative is to go to the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History, which is also close to the restaurant. Other alternatives, involving more subway travel, are the Munch Museum or the Holmenkollen Ski Jump. There is also time for a stroll through the Frogner/Vigeland park, to the Bygdøy forest and the restaurant. If you prefer a short excursion, the National Gallery is very close to the Stefan Hotel.
The Viking Ship Museum contains the finds from four 9th and 10th century viking era graves, including three Viking Ships, of the kind that was used to cross the Atlantic ocean. See http://www.khm.uio.no/english/viking_ship_museum/ . The museum is at Huk Aveny 35, phone (+47) 22 13 52 80, and is open until 18:00. Entry to the museum is free of charge if you go together with a University of Oslo employee.
To get there directly from Blindern, go down Blindernveien to the "Blindern" subway stop (T-bane), cross over the footbridge to the other side, and take any line (3, 4 or 5) two stops to the "Nationaltheatret" subway stop. Exit from the subway, and go to the "Nationaltheatret" bus stop in Stortingsgaten. Take bus 30 towards "Bygdøy" to the Viking Ships stop. The museum is the white building with an orange-red roof nearby.
Alternatively, you can go by tram 17 or 18 back to the Stefan Hotel, and then walk from there to the "Nationaltheatret" bus stop in Stortingsgaten (see the downtown map above). Then take bus 30 towards "Bygdøy" to the Viking Ships stop. The museum is the white building with an orange-red roof nearby.
The open-air museum features 155 authentic buildings from different national regions, from the middle ages to modern time, including the Gol Stave Church from the 13th century. See http://www.folkemuseet.no/ . The museum is at Museumsveien 10, phone (+47) 22 12 37 00, and is open until 18:00. Entry to the museum is 90 NOK, or 60 NOK for a group of more than 15 people.
To get to the Museum of Cultural History, follow the instructions for getting to the Viking Ship Museum, but get off the 30 bus one stop earlier, at "Folkemuseet".
The Munch Museum displays a large selection of the painter Edvard Munch's main works. See http://www.munch.museum.no/ . The museum is at Tøyengata 53, phone (+47) 23 49 35 00, and is open until 18:00. Admission is 65 NOK, or 35 NOK for a group of 10 people or more.
To get to the Munch Museum, go down Blindernveien to the "Blindern" subway stop, and take line 4 or 5 going east (to the right), or cross over the footbridge and take line 3, 4 or 5 going west, to the subway stop "Tøyen". The museum is about 250 meters north of the subway station, within the Tøyen park. Follow signs to "Munch museet"; it is a low gray stone building, with the main entrance to the north.
To return to the Stefan Hotel, go back to the "Tøyen" subway stop, and take one of lines 1,2,3,4,5 or 6 going west, and get off at "Stortinget". See the instructions under "Arrival" above for the way to the hotel. Alternatively, keep going to the "Nationaltheatret" stop, and exit the subway station. To get to "Dronningen" from downtown, see the instructions below.
The Holmenkollen Ski Jump was the main arena for the 1952 winter Olympic Games, and plays an important part in the Norwegian skiing tradition. You can go up in the tower to get a view of Oslo, and virtually experience ski-jumping inside a ski-simulator. See http://www.skiforeningen.no/english . The ski jump is at "Kongeveien 5", phone (+47) 22 92 32 00. The museum and ski-simulator is open until 20:00.
To get to Holmenkollen, walk down Blindernveien to "Blindern" metro stop, cross over the footbridge, and take line 3, 4 or 5 west one stop to "Majorstuen". Get off and cross over (or under) to the opposite platform. Take line 1 towards "Frognerseteren" to "Holmenkollen". There is already a nice view of the city and fjord around "Besserud", if you sit on the left hand side. At "Holmenkollen", get off, turn back and follow the steepest ascent uphill until the ski jump is in view. The Ski Museum is in the ski jump itself, near the jump-off point.
To return downtown, go down to the "Holmenkollen" metro stop, cross the bridge over the tracks, and take line 1 back past "Majorstuen" to "Nationaltheatret" if you want to go directly to "Dronningen", or to "Stortinget" if you have time to stop by the Stefan Hotel.
This is no more than 6 km. Exit campus through the Physics/Chemistry building (24 on the campus map), and go down the hill to Majorstua. Go past the Colosseum movie theater to enter the Frogner park, and proceed near the lakes and stream through the Vigeland sculpture park. Follow the stream out of the park, through a rather narrow part, until you reach Drammensveien. Turn left, go a little uphill until you can turn right on "Bygdøy alle". Follow it to the roundabout over the E18 freeway, and go out on the Bygdøy peninsula along "Dronning Blancas vei". Turn left onto the gravel road "Wedels vei". Here you leave the traffic and enter a wooded domain. Keep going quite straight south until you cross Oscarshallveien and reach Museumsveien just outside of the "Folkemuseum". Turn left on Museumsveien and follow it to "Huk Aveny". Turn left and downhill on "Huk Aveny" until you reach the fjord.
This exhibition presents a selection of Norwegian and international art, including highlights and national "icons" arranged on a largely chronological basis. In the Munch Room visitors will find world-famous works such as "The Scream" and "Madonna". See http://www.nationalmuseum.no . The museum is at Universitetsgata 13, and is open until 18:00 on Tuesdays (closed on Mondays). Entry is free of charge.
To get to the National Gallery from the Stefan Hotel, go west on "Kristian Augusts gate" past "Sehesteds gate" to "Universitetsgata". The museum building is then ahead to your left.
The conference dinner takes place on Tuesday August 7th at the Royal Norwegian Yacht Club's restaurant "Dronningen" (The Queen, facing The King on the other shore), starting at 19:00.
DronningenThe official participants are invited to the conference dinner as a part of the Abel symposium program. Please write to Bjørn Jahren at
Huk Aveny 1
0287 Oslo
Phone: (+47) 22 43 87 66
bjoernj@math.uio.nobefore July 15th if you prefer a vegetarian menu. Other visitors may also join; they should write to Bjørn Jahren before July 15th for further information. All known participants of the symposium will also receive an e-mail from Bjørn Jahren in June/July with further details about the dinner menu, prices, etc.
To get to "Dronningen" from the Viking Ships, walk down "Huk Aveny" about 600 meters to the northeast until you reach the fjord. To get there from the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History (Norsk Folkemuseum), first follow "Museumsveien" south-southeast, and then turn left and downhill on "Huk Aveny", until you reach the fjord.
To get to "Dronningen" from downtown, go to the National Theatre bus stop in "Stortingsgaten", and take bus 30 to the "Viking Ship Museum". We expect that there is a bus at 6, 21, 36 and 51 minutes past each hour, taking 14 minutes to the Viking Ships. From there, walk down "Huk Aveny" to the fjord, as explained above.
Alternatively, go down "Olav Vs gate" from the National Theatre until you reach the "Rådhusbrygga" pier near "Aker brygge" and the town hall, and take the fjord ferry (boat) number 91 from "Rådhusbrygga" to "Dronningen". The bus and subway tickets are also valid for the ferry, which leaves at 5, 25 and 45 minutes past the hour until 16:45, then at 15 and 45 minutes past the hour until 20:45.
To return from Dronningen, the last 30 bus leaves the Viking Ships at midnight, Folkemuseet at 00:01.
Most of the time you can pay for tickets, food etc. with direct withdrawal bank cards/debit cards in Oslo. Credit cards are accepted e.g. for hotel bills, but not usually for bus tickets, groceries, etc. In the airport arrivals hall, the bank "Nordea" has an exchange office that is open Saturdays until 18:00, other days (including Sundays) until 20:30. When you have passed through customs, the bank is ahead and to the left. There are also ATMs/cash machines next to that bank, which should be in operation at all times.
At current exchange rates, 1 Euro (EUR) is a little more than 8 Norwegian Kroner (NOK), whereas 1 US Dollar (USD) is about 6 Norwegian Kroner (NOK).
To go by public transport like trams (trikk), subway (T-bane), bus (buss) and ferry (ferge), we recommend buying either an 8-trip flexi-card (flexikort) for 160 NOK, or a 7-day card (7-dagerskort) for 210 NOK. Children 4 to 16 years old pay half price. Single tickets cost 22 NOK when bought in advance, or 30 NOK when bought from the driver. The 7-day card allows unlimited travel for one week from when it is time stamped. The other tickets allow re-boarding for up to 60 minutes after the time stamp.
The flexi cards, 7-day cars and single tickets can be bought at yellow vending machines at the tram platforms and outside the T-bane stations. These accept coins and bills up to 200 NOK. Cards and tickets can also be bought in "Narvesen kiosks", and from the drivers. The cards must be time stamped at smaller yellow boxes, about 12cm x 15cm x 30cm big, by inserting an unused end into the slot in front. In the control zones (Kontrollsone) you need a valid stamped ticket.
Here is a list of restaurants that will be useful near dinnertime.
The Auditorium is large, with over 450 seats. We expect about 90 participants. If these occupy the front 200 seats, this places the audience at 5 to 12 meters from the blackboards. For your lecture, you can either use blackboards and chalk, overhead projectors, or a computer projector. You can also use a wireless microphone and/or a fixed microphone.
There are six motor-driven blackboards on the back wall, in three columns of two boards, totaling 10 meters in width and 2 meters in height. They should provide ample space for a blackboard-and-chalk lecture, with legible writing for the whole audience. In combination with the wireless microphone this should provide for a good, classical talk. In fact we think the blackboards are quite good, and we recommend this options for speakers that like to give blackboard talks. As usual, this provides more continuity for the audience, and lessens the risk of trying to fit too much material into one talk.
It is possible to also use an overhead projector in combination with the lower row of blackboards, say for the display of an illustration, but the switch takes up to a minute.
There is one fixed overhead projector that displays onto a 10 meter wide screen covering most of the back wall of the auditorium. For improved continuity, we can place a second free-standing overhead projector on one side of the room, projecting to the side of the same screen.
It is possible to raise the screen to expose the lower row of blackboards, say for a chalk explanation, but the switch takes up to a minute. It may be better to write on a blank transparency.
The auditorium has a fixed computer running MS Windows XP, that can also project its display to the back wall screen of the auditorium. The machine can either access local files or files at the University of Oslo file system. There are USB-stick connections that may let you transfer your files to the local machine, or with a (guest) account at the University of Oslo you can place your files there. The machine runs e.g. Powerpoint and Acrobat Reader.
Alternatively, you can bring a MS Windows laptop, and hook up its video output (and audio output) to be projected onto the back wall screen. This avoids the issue of file transfer, and you may be sure that the presentation programs you are used to are available.
You may also borrow a local MS Windows XP laptop. We have had little or no luck getting a Mac or a Linux laptop to work with the local projection system, so we cannot rely on getting that to work. There will be audio-visual technical staff present in the building until 15:00 each day of the conference.
This is the standard departure day. See the section on check-in for the information about reservation codes and payment.
The Airport Express Coach (SAS Flybussen) departs from Pilestredet every 20 minutes, leaving at 1, 21 and 41 minutes past each hour. The trip to Gardermoen is scheduled to take 52 minutes, but might take twice as long in the afternoon rush traffic (between 15:00 and 18:00). You can check this at http://www.flybussen.no/oslo/?search=times.
Starting August 6th the Airport Express Train (Flytoget) departs every 10 minutes from Oslo Central Station (Oslo S), leaving at 5, 15, 25, 35, 45 and 55 minutes past each hour. The trip to Gardermoen takes 22 minutes. Check at http://www.flytoget.no/ .
If you prefer to go from the Nationaltheatret train station (not the subway station!), the Airport Express Train (Flytoget) departs every 20 minutes at 19, 39 and 59 minutes past each hour, taking 28 minutes to the airport.
At this stage we hope the symposium will have been a success for all participants.
The organizing committee, invited speakers and invited participants must
We plan to publish with Springer-Verlag a volume associated to the Abel Symposium in August 2007. We urge invited speakers to submit an edited version of their lectures and we welcome submission of relevant mathematics by participants. We have set a deadline of October 1st 2007 for receipt of manuscripts. Each submission will be refereed, but our goal is to move quickly towards publication.
Electronic submissions will be required and Springer requests that authors utilize their macros available at:
Please submit a pdf-file as well.The editorial board for these proceedings consists of:
Nils A. Baas (baas@math.ntnu.no)
Eric Friedlander (eric@math.northwestern.edu)
Bjørn Jahren (bjoernj@math.uio.no)
Paul Arne Østvær (paularne@math.uio.no)
Please do not hesitate to contact one of the editorial board should you have any questions. You may submit your manuscript to any one of the editors.
This page was last updated August 20th 2007. Please send corrections or comments to rognes@math.uio.no .