Cosmology Meets Non-Linear Algebra

3 Nov 2025, 08:30 → 5 Nov 2025, 17:00 Europe/Amsterdam

C3.161 (Amsterdam Science Park)

Daniel Baumann (University of Amsterdam), Bernd Sturmfels (Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences), Andrzej Prokraka (Brown University)

This workshop brings together physicists from theoretical cosmology and mathematicians from algebraic geometry and combinatorics, with the aim of exploring new collaborations. Going beyond existing interactions in the study of cosmological correlators, cosmological polytopes and their differential equations, we will explore new developments on twistor theory, Grassmannians, and related algebraic varieties.

Organizers:

• Daniel Baumann
• Bernd Sturmfels
• Andrzej Prokraka
• Ineke Brouwer

This activity is part of the ERC Synergy Grant UNIVERSE+ www.positive-geometry.com, funded by the European Union (ERC, UNIVERSE PLUS, 101118787). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Council Executive Agency. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Monday 3 November

08:30 → 08:45 Registration with coffee and tea

Speaker: Ineke Brouwer (University of Amsterdam)

08:45 → 09:00 Welcome

Speaker: Daniel Baumann (University of Amsterdam)

09:00 → 10:00 Towards the Cosmological Grassmannian

Speaker: Mattia Arundine

10:00 → 10:30 Coffee break

10:30 → 11:30 Gram Matrices for Isotropic Vectors

Speaker: Svala Sverrisdottir

11:30 → 12:30 Moving away from N=4 SYM: Lessons from the Coulomb branch

Speaker: Subramanya Hegde

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch

14:00 → 15:00 Positive geometries, canonical forms, and hyperplane arrangements

Speaker: Clément Dupont

15:00 → 15:30 Coffee break

15:30 → 17:00 Free Discussion

17:00 → 19:30 Drinks

Tuesday 4 November

09:00 → 10:00 On massive cosmological correlators

Speaker: Denis Werth

10:00 → 10:30 Coffee Break

10:30 → 11:30 Weight Shifting and Kinematic Flow

Speakers: Harry Goodhew, Nicolas Weiss

11:30 → 12:30 Zonotopes in cosmology: where they are and how to find them

Speaker: Andrzej Pokraka

12:30 → 13:30 Lunch

13:30 → 14:30 Graph Cosmohedra

Speaker: Ross Glew

14:30 → 15:30 On duals of cosmological polytopes

Speaker: Martina Juhnke-Kubitzke

15:30 → 16:30 Travel to boat tour

We take public transport (bus 40) to the pick-up location of the boat tour

16:30 → 18:30 Boat tour

Pick-up location: Schollenbrug (close to Amstel station)
Drop-off location: Ijkantine (Amsterdam-Noord)

18:30 → 20:30 Dinner

Wednesday 5 November

09:00 → 10:00 Constraints on Long-Range Forces in De Sitter Space

Speaker: Nathan Meurrens

10:00 → 10:10 Group Picture

10:10 → 10:30 Coffee break

10:30 → 11:30 Reading between the lines

Speaker: Matteo Parisi

11:30 → 12:30 Free Discussion

12:30 → 14:00 Lunch

14:00 → 15:00 Joint Projects

Speaker: Bernd Sturmfels

15:00 → 16:00 Closing remarks and open problems

Speaker: Daniel Baumann (University of Amsterdam)