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Colloquia

Adventures at the Interface of Combinatorics and Statistical Physics

Peter Winkler
Dartmouth

September 20, 2007
JEC 3117 - 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Refreshments at 3:30 p.m.

Abstract:

Lately there has been a startling burst of activity resulting from the discovery by statistical physicists and combinatorialists that they have many objectives in common, and can benefit from each other's techniques. We'll concentrate on three particularly combinatorial models: the hard-core gas model, percolation, and branched polymers.

Bio:

Peter Winkler is Professor of Mathematics and of Computer Science, and Albert Bradley Third Century Professor in the Sciences, at Dartmouth College. Formerly Director of Fundamental Mathematics Research at Bell Labs, he is the author of about 130 research papers, and holds a dozen patents in cryptography, holography, distributed computing, and marine navigation. When not playing squash, bridge or ragtime piano, Winkler collects puzzles, both mechanical and mathematical. The second of his mathematical puzzle collections, Mathematical Mind-Benders (A K Peters Ltd.), has just appeared in print.

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Last updated: August 13, 2007