This Tuesday, Professor Laszlo Babai from University of Chicago will give a special talk entitled "Groups, Graphs, Matrices, Avalanches: The Abelian Sandpile Model". Abstract: Originating in statistical physics and nearly simultaneously
and independently introduced in algebraic graph theory and in
theoretical computer science in the 1990s, the Abelian Sandpile Model
associates a variety of structures with a diffusion process on finite
graphs. The model gives rise to a remarkably rich theory which
connects the fields of graph theory, stochastic processes, commutative
semigroups and groups, matrices and determinants, lattices in
n-dimensional space, algorithms, number theory, discrete dynamical
syetems, and more.
After a general introduction, I will outline work I have done recently with then undergraduate Igor Gorodezky; the collaboration started at a summer REU. The talk will take place in Beckman B126 ("Big Beckman") at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, December 2, 2008. It should be appealing to undergrads and seasoned researchers alike, so save the date! |
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