Mathematics Colloquium: Lionel Levine (MIT)
- Date: 01/13/2011
Lecturer(s):
Lionel Levine (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)
Location:
University of British Columbia
Topic:
Growth rates and explosions in sandpiles
Description:
How do simple local interactions combine to produce complex large-scale structure and patterns? The abelian sandpile model provides a beautiful test case. I'll discuss a pair of conjectures about the scale invariance and dimensional reduction of the patterns formed. A new perspective on sandpiles views them as free boundary problems for the discrete Laplacian with an extra integrality condition. Joint work with Anne Fey and Yuval Peres.
Schedule:
1:00pm-2:00pm, WMAX 110