The concepts of noncommutative geometry always played an important role in quantum physics: they provided a natural framework for noncommutativity of coordintaes and momenta, and for the Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Recently, noncommutative geometry found new applications in the D-brane physics. In simple cases the D-branes can be viewed as self-adjoint boundary conditions for a certain second order differential operator A. Then, the noncommutativity results from the properties of the Green's function of A. More challenging examples are provided by D-branes on group manifolds.

This talk is designed as an introduction into the subject. No previous knowledge of strings, D-branes, or noncommutative geometry is assumed.

Refreshments will be served in room 321 Altgeld Hall at 3:15 pm