Monday, January 22, 2018

[DMANET] Two-day workshop on algorithmic and combinatorial aspects of partition functions

Workshop: Algorithmic and Combinatorial Aspects of Partition Functions

Location: Sciencepark 904, University of Amsterdam

Dates: August 23-24 2018

Workshop website: https://sites.google.com/site/guusregts/home/workshop


The study of various types of partition functions is a very active area of research and lies at the interface of combinatorics, probability, theoretical computer science, and statistical physics. The partition function of the Potts model and the hardcore model, also known as the Tutte polynomial and the independence polynomial respectively, are prototypical examples. Some of the fundamental questions in this area include: What sort of network structure allows for efficient computation of the partition function? Which network structures maximizes/minimizes the partition function? How does the partition function of a random network behave? Recent developments have shown strong connections between phase transitions in statistical physics and answers to these type of questions. The aim of the workshop is to bring together researchers working on different aspects of partition functions in order to exchange ideas and learn about new developments. The workshop is partially supported by the NWO Gravitation Grant Networks.


Invited speakers at the workshop include:

Alexander Barvinok (University of Michigan)
Amin Coja-Oghlan (Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main)
Péter Csikvári (Eötvös Loránd, Budapest)
Leslie Goldberg (University of Oxford)
Martin Loebl (Charles University, Prague)
Alexander Schrijver (University of Amsterdam and CWI Amsterdam )


Participation and the conference dinner are free of charge, but participants should register by sending an email to guusregts@gmail.com before the 1st of August, indicating dietary requirements and affiliation.

The program consists of talks by the invited speakers and contributed talks (20 min). More details will be added later. If you wish to give a contributed talk, please send an email to guusregts@gmail.com with a short abstract before 1st July. There are limited funds available for participant support.

Organisers: Guus Regts, Viresh Patel

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