Computing Quasilocal Mass

This talk will start with the infimum definition of quasi-local mass and its more obvious properties. Assuming a natural but possibly deep conjecture on the nature of the infimum, reduces the calculation of quasi-local mass to solving an elliptic boundary value problem of Ricci type. I will describe what little is known about this system, and recent attempts to numerically compute solutions in the static axially symmetric case (joint work with Marsha Weaver).