Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences - PIMS

The goal of this workshop is to highlight emerging new topics in
spatial probability, and related areas where probabilistic ideas play
an important role. The emphasis is on types of questions and approaches
that are not largely based on existing techniques. We have invited
researchers with a variety of backgrounds, to help cross-fertilization
between areas. Some topics that the organizers have in mind are below,
although speakers have the freedom to choose what they find suitable.

Combinatorial optimization problems with a stochastic component are a source of
challenging open questions. Examples are the traveling salesman problem
on a random set of points, other optimal path problems on random data,
and allocation problems. Heuristics from statistical physics often
suggest conjectures, open to investigation. Interacting spatial
processes has been an active area since the 1970s, with interesting
connections to other fields of mathematics such as random permutations,
and PDEs. Such processes with non-local interactions have not been
studied extensively. Interesting examples of deterministic processes
have been found, where randomness plays a role in the analysis, such as
crystal growth or sandpiles. These types of connections between
deterministic and random are likely to be the source of intriguing
questions in the future.

This workshop is part of the CRM-PIMS Thematic Group on Challenges and Perspectives in Probability.

For further information, please see: http://www.crm.umontreal.ca/Spatial09/index_e.php