{pdf} Physical and Mathematical Aspects of Symmetries: Proceedings of the 31st International Colloquium in Group Theoretical Methods in Physics coll.

The 31st International Colloquium on Group Theoretical Methods in Physics (also
shortened as ?Group 31?) was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from June 19 to June
25, 2016. This was the first time that a colloquium of the prestigious and nowadays
traditional ICGTMP series, which started in 1972 in Marseille, France, took place
in South America.
The aim of the ICGTMP Colloquia is to provide a forum for physicists, mathematicians,
and scientists of related disciplines who either develop or apply methods
in group theory (further information on the history of the Colloquia and its recent
development is found at the ICGTMP homepage http://icgtmp.blogs.uva.es/ ).
The Group 31 Colloquium was hosted by the Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas
F??sicas (CBPF), a Federal Research Institute which, since its creation in 1949, has
been essential for Brazilian science in promoting research and scientific interchange.
The Group 31 Colloquium, consisted of three venues, was located in different areas
of Rio de Janeiro. The main activity (registration, parallel and poster sessions) took
place at CBPF in the Urca neighborhood, while plenary sessions were held at the
Auditorium of the Fundac? ?ao Casa de Rui Barbosa in Botafogo. The Award Ceremony
for the Wigner Medal and the Weyl Prize was held on June 22 in the new
landmark of Rio de Janeiro, the Museu do Amanh?a science museum, next to the
waterfront of Pier Mau?a. The last day of the colloquium a general public event was
also held at Museu do Amanh?a.
In recent years Brazil experienced a scientific boost (measured, e.g., by the number
of scientific publications and their impact) which has been unparalleled in its
history. To be sure, the group theoretical community was both a beneficiary and a
promoter of this scientific rise. One of the motivations to organize the Group Theoretical
Colloquium in Brazil was indeed to offer a unique opportunity to the growing,
although scattered on a vast subcontinental nation and not yet fully organized, community
of researchers working in the country (and profiting, as well, researchers
from other South American nations). In this respect the colloquium was a great success,
with more than 140 participants, equally split into Brazilians and foreigners. It
is particularly remarkable that all continents were represented, this is a sign of the
relevance of this scientific topic and of the world-wide esteem that the colloquium
is held by our colleagues. This success was made possible, in particular, by grants
received by TWAS, supporting participation of scientists from developing countries,
and ICTP, supporting participants from Latin American countries outside of Brazil.
The main sponsor of the event has been the CAPES Federal Agency which offered a
substantial contribution to the Local Organizing Committee. Important logistic supixport with free use of the facilities was provided by CBPF, Fundac? ?ao Casa de Rui
Barbosa, and Museu do Amanh?a.
The scientific program of Group 31 was particularly rich, with eleven plenary
talks, thirteen parallel sessions with both oral and poster presentations, two laudatio
speeches in honor of, respectively, the Wigner Medalist and the Weyl Prize winner,
and two memorial talks. The memorial talks were held to honor renowned colleagues
Laurence Boyle and Syed Twareque Ali, members of the ICGTMP Standing
Committee, who sadly passed away.
Before the Colloquium, as a parallel program, a two-day Satellite Workshop on
Mathematical Physics was organized on June 16 and 17 in S. Paulo by ICTP-SAIFR
(the International Center for Theoretical Physics-South American Institute for Fundamental
Research).
At the Inauguration of the colloquium welcome speeches were given by Mariano
del Olmo, Chairman of the ICGTMP Standing Committee, Ronald Shellard,
Director of the CBPF and Luiz Davidovich, President of the Brazilian Academy of
Science.