We will be taking Vaughan Jones to lunch at the Forum Restaurant in the Darlington Centre after his talk on Wednesday 26 November (so lunch will be 1-2 PM). If you would like to join us (and I hope that you will), it is essential to RSVP to Emma (carberry@maths.usyd.edu.au) by midday (12 PM) on Friday, 21 November. Please also let me know by this time if you would like a vegetarian meal or have other dietary restrictions. The restaurant will provide a set menu of a meat, fish or vegetarian dish (the last by request only), sparkling water and tea/coffee for $28. You will need to pay me rather than the restaurant directly, so please bring cash as it will not be possible to pay using a card. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I look forward to seeing you at the talk and lunch. ============================================ THE UNIVERSITIES OF SYDNEY AND NSW SCHOOLS OF MATHEMATICS AND STATISTICS ___________________JOINT COLLOQUIUM______________________ Speaker: Prof. Vaughan Jones (Berkeley) Title:Planar algebra Date: Wednesday, 26 November 2008 Venue: Carslaw 175, University of Sydney Time: 12 PM Abstract: I will talk about algebra having operations indexed by planar diagrams. This kind of algebra arises from various sources including knot theory, statistical mechanical models, matrix models, quantum groups, category theory and von Neumann algebras. There are many common themes including the Yang Baxter equation and other skein relations. A canonical construction of von Neumann algebras from planar algebra will be presented.