Am 29.07.2021 wurde zum 48. Mal der „Preis der Freunde“ verliehen, der anlässlich des 50-jährigen Bestehens der Vereinigung der Freunde der Universität Stuttgart im Jahre 1973 gestiftet wurde. Der Preis der Freunde zeichnet hervorragende wissenschaftliche Leistungen aus und soll auch den Kontakt zwischen den Freunden der Universität Stuttgart und den Studierenden fördern. Herr Paul Schwahn  (IGT) erhielt den Preis für seine Masterarbeit zum Thema "Einstein-Deformationen auf homogenen Räumen" (Betreuer Prof. Uwe Semmelmann).

Abstract der Masterarbeit:

Einstein metrics on Riemannian manifolds naturally arise in General Relativity as solutions of the Einstein field equations in a vacuum with cosmological constant. This already gives them quite a bit of relevance in physics. We are interested in how one could smoothly vary an Einstein metric while still retaining the Einstein property, i.e. how to deform the Einstein metric through a curve of Einstein metrics. If one considers the problem on an infinitesimal scale, what are the constraints on the direction in which our deformation might go? It turns out that the space of such infinitesimal deformations can be described as an eigenspace of a particular operator. This operator also has a physical relevance; for example, it is present in higher-dimensional gravity theories, where the stability of black holes is analyzed. In total, this should be a sufficient justification to study Einstein manifolds and their deformations, if one is not already convinced by the fact that problems in Riemannian geometry are interesting in themselves.