The Institute for Computational and Experimental Research in Mathematics (ICERM) invites applications to a thematic semester and to three affiliated topical workshops
Phase Transitions and Emergent Properties
ICERM, Brown University, February 2 – May 8, 2015
Description: Emergent phenomena are properties of a system of many components which are only evident or even meaningful for the collection as a whole. A typical example is a system of many molecules, whose bulk properties may change from those of a fluid to those of a solid in response to changes in temperature or pressure. The basic mathematical tool for understanding emergent phenomena is the variational principle, most often employed via entropy maximization. The difficulty of analyzing emergent phenomena, however, makes empirical work essential; computations generate conjectures and their results are often our best judge of the truth.
The semester will include three workshops that will concentrate on different aspects of current interest, including unusual settings such as complex networks and quasicrystals, the onset of emergence as small systems grow, and the emergence of structure and shape as limits in probabilistic models. The workshops will bring in researchers in combinatorics and probability as well as statistical physics and related areas.
Organizing Committee:
Mark Bowick, Syracuse University
Beatrice de Tiliere, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris
Richard Kenyon, Brown University
Charles Radin, University of Texas
Peter Winkler, Dartmouth College
Associated Workshops:
Crystals, Quasicrystals and Random Networks (February 9-13, 2015)
Small Clusters, Polymer Vesicles and Unusual Minima (March 16-20, 2015)
Limit Shapes (April 13-17, 2015)
To apply, please go here: