Carissimi,
stiamo cercando di organizzare in Italia, sulla falsariga del M. Kac
Seminar in Olanda, una serie di incontri di probabilita` e delle sue
applicazioni alla Fisica, Biologia e Scienze sociali, per stimolare lo
scambio di idee e offrire ai piu` giovani l'opportunita` di venire a
contatto con un ampio panorama di temi di ricerca.
E` con grande gioia che vi comunico che il primo di questi eventi si
terra` venerdì 26 Maggio 2017 a Firenze, in un'aula universitaria vicino
alla stazione di S. Maria Novella. Sara` un'occasione per goderci una
giornata scientifica insieme e per esplorare le possibilita` e le
modalita` piu` opportune per ripetere questo tipo di incontri. Di
seguito trovate i dettagli della giornata del 26 Maggio,
che vedra` come oratori R. Fernandez (University of Utrecht, Olanda) e
R. Morris (IMPA Instituto Nacional de Matemática Pura e Aplicada Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil).
A SPRING DAY IN PROBABILITY AND STATISTICAL PHYSICS
University of Florence
Friday 26 May 2017
Lecturers: R. Fernandez (Utrecht) and R. Morris (IMPA).
Location: Aula Magna di Via S. Gallo 10, Firenze
Prof. Roberto Fernandez
Title: Signal description: process or Gibbs?
Abstract: The distribution of signals such as spike trains is
naturally modeled through stochastic processes where the probability
of future states depend on the pattern of past spikes.
Mathematically, this corresponds to distributions *conditioned on the
past*. From a signal-theoretic point of view, however, one could
wonder whether a more efficient description could be obtained through
the simultaneous conditioning of past *and* future. Furthermore, such
a formalism could be appropriate when discussing string without a
particular "time" order, such as the distribution of DNA nucleotides,
or even issues related to anticipation and prediction in neuroscience.
On the mathematical level this double conditioning would correspond to
a Gibbsian description analogous to the one adopted in statistical
mechanics. In this talk I will introduce and contrast both approaches
---process and Gibbsian based--- reviewing existing results on scope
and limitations of them.
Prof. Robert Morris
Title: Monotone cellular automata
Abstract: Cellular automata are interacting particle systems whose
update rules are local and homogeneous. Since their introduction by von
Neumann almost 50 years ago, many particular such systems have been
investigated, but no general theory has been developed for their study,
and for many simple examples surprisingly little is known. Understanding
their (typical) global behaviour is an important and challenging problem
in statistical physics, probability theory and combinatorics.
In this talk I will outline some recent progress in understanding the
behaviour of a particular (large) family of monotone cellular automata
-- those which can naturally be embedded in d-dimensional space -- with
random initial conditions. For example, in the case where a site updates
(from inactive to active) if at least r of its neighbours are already
active, these models are known as bootstrap percolation, and have been
extensively studied for various specific underlying graphs. Apart from
their inherent mathematical interest, the study of these processes is
motivated by their close connection to models in statistical physics,
and I will discuss some applications to a family of models of the
liquid-glass transition known as kinetically constrained spin models.
Program:
11.00-11.45 Introductory lecture: R. Fernandez
11.45-12.00 Break
12.00-12.45 Seminar: R. Fernandez
13.00-14.30 Lunch
14.30-15.15 Introductory lecture: R. Morris
15.15-15.30 Break
15.30-16.15 Seminar: R. Morris
Note pratiche:
1) E` importante prenotare il biglietto del treno il piu` presto
possibile per poter usufruire di sconti!!!!
2) Stiamo prenotando un ristorante con un paio di menu fissi che possa
ospitarci, ma ho bisogno del numero di persone che vogliono mangiare
insieme. A coloro che fossero interessati chiedo di mandare un email a
francescaromana.nardi(a)unifi.it
Resta fermo il fatto che saremo in pieno centro di Firenze, quindi ci
sono moltissime altre possibilita` per mangiare se preferite regolarvi
indipendentemente.
Organizers:
F. Caravenna
N. Cancrini
E.N.M. Cirillo
P. Dai Pra
A. De Masi
D. Fanelli
F. Flandoli
C. Giardina`
R. Livi
F. Martinelli
I.G. Minelli
F.R. Nardi
E. Presutti
B. Scoppola
E. Scoppola
Vi aspettiamo,
Francesca R. Nardi
Dipartimento di Matematica e Informatica
Università degli Studi di Firenze
Viale Morgagni 67, Firenze, Italy