Dear all, A reminder that tomorrow (Wednesday), from 15:00 to 17:00 UTC, Frank den Hollander and Elena Pulvirenti will be speaking at the One World Probability Seminar. Titles, abstracts and the zoom link are below the signature and will also be posted on the website https://www.owprobability.org/one-world-probability-seminar. We kindly ask for your help to share this message within your community. Best wishes, Alberto Chiarini and Adrián González Casanova   ---------------------- Speakers: Frank den Hollander (Leiden) and Elena Pulvirenti (Delft) Talk 1 : Metastability for the Widom-Rowlinson model: I. Planar discs. Abstract We define the static Widom-Rowlinson model on a two-dimensional finite torus. The energy of a particle configuration is determined by its halo, defined as the union of unit discs centred at the positions of the particles. We discuss the metastable behaviour  of a dynamic version of the model, in which particles are randomly created and annihilated as if the outside of the torus were an infinite reservoir with a given chemical potential. We start with the empty torus and are interested in the first time when the  torus is fully covered by unit discs. This can be viewed as the crossover time from a ‘gas phase’ to a ‘liquid phase’. We consider the metastable regime where the temperature is low and the chemical potential is supercritical. In order to achieve the transition  from empty to full, the system needs to create a sufficiently large droplet, called critical droplet, which triggers the crossover. It turns out that the critical droplet is close to a disc of a certain deterministic radius, with a boundary that is random  and consists of a large number of unit discs that stick out by a small distance. We show how an analysis of the surface fluctuations allows us to derive both a volume term and a surface term in the asymptotics of the average crossover time. Based on joint work with Sabine Jansen (Munich) and Roman Kotecký (Prague). Talk 2 : Metastability for the Widom-Rowlinson model: II. Grains of general shape. Abstract   We investigate what happens when the planar discs are replaced by convex grains in arbitrary dimensions whose shape may be random. We identify the size and the shape of the critical droplet as a function of the shape distribution for the grains. We also identify  the volume term in the asymptotics of the average crossover time. In addition, we speculate about the surface term, formulating a conjecture about what it should look like. There are various interesting subcases, showing that the shape of the grains has a  rather delicate influence on the critical droplet and the average crossover time. Based on joint work with Yogesh Dhandapani (Bangalore) and Roman Kotecký (Prague). Zoom-link:  https://unipd.zoom.us/j/89537602090?pwd=T0lETjRKaHk1R3FpWmNTbThxNTJQdz09 Meeting ID: 895 3760 2090 Passcode: 300934Time: 15:00 - 17:00 UTC If you are having trouble with zoom, or if the capacity of the zoom room gets exceeded, you can also access to the Youtube live stream at the channel of the seminar: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiLiEQGTp6bZEhuHDM-WNWQ