This program is intended to emphasize the remarkable connections between two domains that a priori seem unrelated: random matrices (together with associated random processes) and integrable systems. The relations between random matrix models and the theory of classical integrable systems have long been studied. These appear mainly in the deformation theory, when parameters characterizing the measures or the domain of localization of the eigenvalues are varied. The resulting differential equations determining the partition function and correlation functions are, remarkably, of the same type as certain equations appearing in the theory of integrable systems. They may be analyzed effectively through methods based upon the Riemann-Hilbert problem of analytic function theory and by related approaches to the study of nonlinear asymptotics in the large N limit. Associated to studies of matrix models are certain stochastic processes, the "Dyson processes", and their continuum limits, which are related to the spectra of random matrix ensembles, and may also be studied by related methods.
Besides the well-known physical applications of random matrix theory, such as the Wigner-Dyson statistical approach to the distribution of high lying resonances of large nuclei, and the more recent applications to string theory and two dimensional quantum gravity, there exist further new applications under current study, such as the computation of correlation functions in supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory, and the regularization of the Laplacian growth problem of two dimensional fluid dynamics. Correlation functions between eigenvalues of random matrices also have close similarities to those in integrable quantum spin systems and many body models. There are further remarkable connections to a variety of probabilistic problems such as random words, tilings and partitions, as well as to the statistical distribution of zeros of L functions.
The program is meant to provide an opportunity for productive interactions, bringing together top experts and younger researchers beginning work in this area. The schedule will consist of two parts. There will be eight extended lecture series on related topics, each of one week's duration, having a survey and pedagogical character, aimed primarily at younger researchers entering the field. The afternoon sessions will mainly be of "workshop" character, with one hour talks presented on current work the field. The schedule will be relaxed, with no more than five talks per day, in order to permit maximum time for interactions between the participants.
Lecture series speakers | ||
Mark Adler | Brandeis Univ. | |
Pavel Bleher |
Indiana Univ.-Purdue Univ. at Indianapolis (I.U.P.U.I.) | |
Bertrand Eynard | C.E.A,. Saclay, S.Ph.T. | |
Alexander Its | Indiana
Univ.-Purdue Univ. at Indianapolis (I.U.P.U.I.) | |
Ken McLaughlin | University of Arizona | |
Craig Tracy |
U.C. Davis | |
Pierre van Moerbeke |
Univ. Catholique de Louvain / Brandeis Univ. | |
Harold Widom |
U.C. Santa Cruz | |
Workshop speakers |
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Marco Bertola |
Concordia Univ., C.R.M. | |
Brian Conrey | American Institute of Mathematics | |
Percy Deift |
Courant Inst., N.Y.U. | |
Bertrand Eynard |
C.E.A,. Saclay, S.Ph.T. | |
Philippe di Francesco |
C.E.A., Saclay, S.Ph.T. | |
Sam Howison |
Math. Institute, OCIAM, Oxford | |
Vladimir Kazakov |
E.N.S., Paris | |
Dmitri Korotkin |
Concordia Univ., C.R.M. | |
Arno Kuijlaars |
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven | |
Andrei Okounkov* |
Princeton Univ. | |
Alexander Orlov |
Oceanology Inst., Moscow | |
Gordon Semenoff | University of British Columbia | |
Alexander Soshnikov |
U.C. Davis | |
Nina Snaith | University of Bristol | |
Anton Zabrodin |
I.T.E.P., Moscow | |
Ofer Zeitouni |
Univ. Minn., Technion | |
Paul Zinn-Justin |
Orsay, Univ. Paris-sud | |
Jean-Bernard Zuber |
C.E.A., Saclay, S.Ph.T. | |
(* = to be confirmed) |
All participants are asked to make their own reservations, unless there is some special reason for their being unable to do so. In the latter case, please contact the CRM activities coordinator at the e-mail link provided below to ask for assistance. To be sure that accommodations are available at your preferred location, it is recommended that accommodations be booked well ahead of time. |