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School on Disordered media

01/20/2025 - 01/24/2025
Rényi Institute, main lecture hall

Description

Winter panorama of Budapest

 

The School on Disordered media (2025 January 20-24) will be held at the main lecture hall of Rényi Institute, Budapest, Hungary. The school is part of the Semester on Probability and Statistical Physics hosted by Erdős Center. The programme of the school consists of five minicourses given by distinguished researchers of the field, short presentations by participants of the school and an open problem session. Note that one week after the school, a Workshop on Disordered Media will also be held at Rényi Institute / Erdős Center.

Minicourses:

  • David Belius: INTRODUCTION TO SPIN GLASSES, 
  • Nathanael Berestycki: LIOUVILLE QUANTUM GRAVITY AND ITS SPECTRAL GEOMETRY, 
  • Marek Biskup: EXTREMAL PROPERTIES OF THE RANDOM WALK LOCAL TIME, 
  • Ron Peled: DISORDERED SPIN SYSTEMS, FIRST-PASSAGE PERCOLATION AND MINIMAL SURFACES IN RANDOM ENVIRONMENT, 
  • Sergio Simonella: KINETIC LIMITS FOR THE DILUTE CLASSICAL GAS.

 

Details of Minicourses:

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Lecturer: DAVID BELIUS (UniDistance Suisse | FernUni Schweiz)
 
Title: INTRODUCTION TO SPIN GLASSES
 
Abstract: Mean-field spin glasses are paradigmatic examples of complex systems. They involve a large (N->inf) number of simple "spin" variables, which are subject to disordered random interactions that cause highly complex and fascinating collective behavior. Their origin lies in the statistical physics of disordered magnetic materials. Subsequently models with very different origins and motivations but similar outcomes have appeared in theoretical computer science and theoretical statistics, giving rise to a kind of universality class of mean-field spin glass models that spans several areas of science.

This minicourse will start with a discussion of the history and motivation of spin glass models in physics, and then move on to calculations and proofs in some of the (few) settings where these can be done by simple means (Curie-Weiss model, free energy at high enough temperature using second moment method). We will finish with a high-level discussion, with little or no proof, of the recently reinvigorated geometric Thouless-Andersson-Palmer (TAP) approach to these models.
 
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Lecturer: NATHANAEL BERESTYCKI (Universitaet Wien)
 
Title:  LIOUVILLE QUANTUM GRAVITY AND ITS SPECTRAL GEOMETRY
 
Abstract: Liouville quantum gravity is a certain canonical random geometry in two dimensions, which physicists have developed for the last 40 years in order to solve or approach a large variety of problems. Recently a rigorous construction has been proposed, leading to a number of breakthroughs in probability. 

I will explain the construction, which is closely related to the theory of Gaussian multiplicative chaos and the Gaussian free field, to which a brief introduction will also be presented. I will also discuss Liouville Brownian motion, the canonical diffusion in this random geometry. In particular I will present some recent results on the spectral geometry of LQG, showing that the eigenvalues satisfy a Weyl law, and discussing a number of conjectures which aim to relate LQG to "quantum chaos". 
 
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Lecturer: MAREK BISKUP (UCLA)
 
Title:  EXTREMAL PROPERTIES OF THE RANDOM WALK LOCAL TIME
 
Abstract: I will discuss recent derivations of various limit laws for the extremal processes of the local time of random walks. The focus will be on the setting where the local time is logarithmically correlated which is the case for the simple random walk on planar graphs and homogeneous trees. I will highlight both the similarities and the differences from the corresponding extremal properties of the Gaussian Free Field that is naturally associated with the local time; e.g., by way of so called isomorphism theorems. No prior knowledge of these topics will be assumed.
 
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Lecturer: RON PELED (Tel Aviv University → University of Maryland)
 
Title: DISORDERED SPIN SYSTEMS, FIRST-PASSAGE PERCOLATION AND MINIMAL SURFACES IN RANDOM ENVIRONMENT
 
Abstract: TBA
 
Tutor: PAUL DARIO

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Lecturer: SERGIO SIMONELLA (Sapienza Università di Roma) 

Title: KINETIC LIMITS FOR THE DILUTE CLASSICAL GAS

Abstract: We will review the state of the art in the validity problem for a mathematical justification of fluid equations based on fundamental laws of classical mechanics. With the techniques currently available, such problems can be faced in some simple cases, using kinetic theory as an intermediate step. In particular, we will study deterministic, time-reversible dynamics with random initial data, in a low-density scaling. Under suitable assumptions on the initial measure, a strong chaos property is propagated in time, which also encodes the transition to irreversibility. This result is complemented by large deviation estimates and by a theory of small fluctuations, allowing to establish the connection between microscopic and hydrodynamic scales. Many of the open problems left require a deeper understanding of the coupling mechanisms between deterministic and stochastic dynamics.

Tutor: RAPHAEL WINTER

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Application Information:

Application is now closed. Application deadline was: 2024 October 31.

The school covers full lodging for all accepted international participants (junior participants might share a room with another participant). There is very limited funding for travel support. Applicants are asked to send their application to the e-mail address  probstatphys25@renyi.hu .The subject of the application e-mail should be: "School on Disordered media application". Your application e-mail should contain your name, affiliation and CV (which includes your list of publications). Please indicate in your application if you wish to apply for lodging in Budapest. In case you want apply for travel support, please write a short explanation why you lack travel funding and how participation in this school would be beneficial for you. 

MSc and PhD students applying for the school should also ask their supervisor to send a short recommendation email (typically a few informal sentences) to the contact e-mail address probstatphys25@renyi.hu

A limited number of participants will also get a chance to give a short talk about their work. If you would like to give a short talk, please provide the proposed title and abstract in your application e-mail.

Organizers

Ágnes Backhausz (ELTE / Rényi)
Gábor Pete (Rényi / BME)
Balázs Ráth (BME / Rényi)
Bálint Tóth (Rényi / Bristol)

Invited Speakers

David Belius
Nathanael Berestycki
Marek Biskup
Ron Peled
Sergio Simonella

Participants

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