The proposal aims to provide participant support for about a dozen young US based mathematicians to attend an advanced school/workshop on Random Matrices and Growth Models at the International Center for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy from September 2 till September 13, 2013. The main topics to be covered at the program are the universality of local distribution of the eigenvalues of large random Hermitian matrices, spectral properties of non-Hermitian random matrices, and recent advances in random growth models and interacting particle systems. The topics of the program have many important applications in statistics, nuclear physics, theoretical computer science, and population biology. The proposal will allow to attract talented young mathematicians (with emphasis on gender equality and minority participation) to this exciting and rapidly growing area of research.
For more information see www.ictp.it/scientific-calendar.aspx
at the International Center for Theoretical Physics (Trieste, Italy) on September 2-13, 2013. Random matrices were originally introduced by Eugene Wigner in the 1950s, to analyze excitation spectra of heavy nuclei. Since then, they have been linked to an astonishing number of branches of mathematics (probability theory, representation theory, operator algebra, number theory) and physics (solid state physics, statistical mechanics, quantum chaos). An explanation for the ubiquitous appearance of random matrices is given by the so called universality hypothesis, roughly stating that the local statistics of disordered or chaotic systems depend on the underlying symmetry but are independent of further details. An important class of systems to which universality is believed to apply consists of stochastically growing interfaces. Several examples of random growth models, interacting particles systems and directed polymers are expected to belong to the Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) universality class. The first week of the program was devoted to six mini-courses taught by leading international experts in Random Matrix Theory. The introductory courses by P. Bleher, L. Erdos, P. Ferrari, A. Its, M. Krishnapur, and C. Tracy gave an overview on recent mathematical problems in the field. The second week was devoted to a research conference on the newest developments in Random Matrices and Random Growth Models. The junior participants were encouraged to make a poster presentation at the conference.
