Foundations of General-Relativistic Gauge Field Theory

Mar 17, 2026, 9:00 AM → Mar 19, 2026, 6:00 PM Europe/Rome

Room Perucca, at DISAT, Door 1, Ground floor (Politecnico di Torino)

Lucrezia Ravera (Politecnico di Torino, Italy), Jordan François (University of Graz, Austria)

 

On a mathematically foundational level, our most successful physical theories (gauge field theories and general-relativistic theories, which together constitute the framework of General-Relativistic Gauge Field Theory) are based on the differential geometry of connections on principal bundles. The topic of this conference school is General-Relativistic Gauge Field Theory: its mathematical foundations, its first principle conceptual and technical development, state-of-the-art applications, and model building.

 

The target of the school are PhD Students and early career Post Doc, but it can extend to Young Researchers and Senior Researchers who wish to deepen their understanding of the geometric, technical and conceptual foundational aspects of General-Relativistic Gauge Field Theory.

 

The Conference School will take place at Politecnico di Torino, in Room Perucca, at DISAT (Dipartimento di Scienza Applicata e Tecnologia), Door 1, Ground floor.

 

The program includes the following modules (18 hours of lectures in total):

 

• [Module DG, 4.5h] Bundle Differential Geometry (DG) of Gauge Field Theory, to provide the mathematical and geometric tools underpinning classical gauge theories: Ehresmann connection and Yang-Mills Gauge Field Theory, Cartan connection and gauge gravity, twisted connections on field space and anomalies, differential geometry of field space and gauge-fixing;
• [Module AS, 4.5h] Asymptotic Symmetries (AS) in General Relativity and applications to gravitational (and electromagnetic) radiation and gravitational waves physics;
• [Module SR, 4.5h] Symmetry Reduction (SR) schemes – in particular, the Dressing Field Method (DFM) and its relational interpretation – in General-Relativistic Gauge Field Theory, including state-of-the-art model building and applications (among which, e.g., General Relativity, Supersymmetric Field Theories, etc.);
• [Module FA, 4.5h] Foundational Aspects (FA) of General-Relativistic Gauge Field Theory, to allow a clearer understanding of the current state of general-relativistic physics and gauge theories, starting from first principles and conceptual analysis.

 

Lecturers:

Philipp Berghofer (University of Graz, Austria)

Jordan François (University of Graz, Austria)

Lucrezia Ravera (Politecnico di Torino, Italy)

T.B.A. ()

 

The event will also feature a call for abstracts for oral contributions by young researchers: up to six talks will be selected, each with a maximum duration of 15 minutes, including questions. For more details, please see the Call for Abstracts section on this website.

 

The Registration deadline is February 6th, 2026, at 3:00 PM CEST.

The Call for Abstracts deadline is February 6th, 2026, at 3:00 PM CEST.

 

Organization: Lucrezia Ravera (Politecnico di Torino, Italy)
Scientific Advisement: Jordan François (University of Graz, Austria)

Sponsored by: Project GrIFOS, funded by MUR, PNRR Young Researchers funding program, MSCA Seal of Excellence (SoE), CUP E13C24003600006

Practical info.pdf

Tue, March 17

9:00 AM → 9:30 AM Registration: Registration & Welcome

9:30 AM → 11:00 AM Lecture DG: Lecture 1, Module DG

Convener: Jordan François

11:00 AM → 11:30 AM Coffee Break

11:30 AM → 1:00 PM Lecture DG: Lecture 2, Module DG

Convener: Jordan François

1:00 PM → 2:00 PM Lunch

2:00 PM → 3:30 PM Lecture AS: Lecture 1, Module AS

Convener: T.B.A.

3:30 PM → 4:00 PM Coffee Break

4:00 PM → 5:30 PM Lecture AS: Lecture 2, Module AS

Convener: T.B.A.

5:30 PM → 5:45 PM Contributed Talk 1, T.B.A.

Speaker: T.B.A.

5:45 PM → 6:00 PM Contributed Talk 2, T.B.A.

Speaker: T.B.A.

Wed, March 18

9:30 AM → 11:00 AM Lecture AS: Lecture 3, Module AS

Convener: T.B.A.

11:00 AM → 11:30 AM Coffee Break

11:30 AM → 1:00 PM Lecture DG: Lecture 3, Module DG

Convener: Jordan François

1:00 PM → 2:00 PM Lunch

2:00 PM → 3:30 PM Lecture SR: Lecture 1, Module SR

Convener: Lucrezia Ravera

3:30 PM → 4:00 PM Coffee Break

4:00 PM → 5:30 PM Lecture FA: Lecture 1, Module FA

Convener: Philipp Berghofer

5:30 PM → 5:45 PM Contributed Talk 3, T.B.A.

Speaker: T.B.A.

5:45 PM → 6:00 PM Contributed Talk 4, T.B.A.

Speaker: T.B.A.

Thu, March 19

9:30 AM → 11:00 AM Lecture FA: Lecture 2, Module FA

Convener: Philipp Berghofer

11:00 AM → 11:30 AM Coffee Break

11:30 AM → 1:00 PM Lecture FA: Lecture 3, Module FA

Convener: Philipp Berghofer

1:00 PM → 2:00 PM Lunch

2:00 PM → 3:30 PM Lecture SR: Lecture 2, Module SR

Convener: Lucrezia Ravera

3:30 PM → 4:00 PM Coffee Break

4:00 PM → 5:30 PM Lecture SR

Convener: Lucrezia Ravera

5:30 PM → 5:45 PM Contributed Talk 5, T.B.A.

Speaker: T.B.A.

5:45 PM → 6:00 PM Contributed Talk 6, T.B.A.

Speaker: T.B.A.