scope:

The ICGA series of conferences is specially aimed to serve the needs of the workers in this research area in the Asia-Pacific region. The previous conferences of this series have attracted a growing number of local, regional and international participants. 2005 was an auspicious year. Not only was it the International Year of Physics, commemorating Einstein's great achievements of 1905, it also was the anniversary of Einstein's development of General Relativity: he submitted the final form of his field equations on 25 November, 1915. Nine decades years later, around 40 Taiwan-based participants were joined by over 40 distinguished visitors from Canada, China, France, Japan, Korea, Russia, and the USA, and this volume includes many of the papers that were presented. The depth and breadth of these contributions reflect the high quality of the meeting and the development of the field in the Asia-Pacific region.