10w5033 Sparse Random Structures: Analysis and Computation

Arriving Sunday, January 24 and departing Friday, January 29, 2010

Organizers: Emmanuel Candes (California Institute of Technology), Alan Edelman (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), John Gilbert (University of California, Santa Barbara), Raj Rao Nadakuditi (University of Michigan), Roland Speicher (Queen's University), Balint Virag (University of Toronto).

Confirmed Participants

Press Release: Sparse Random Structures: Analysis and Computation

Information for Participants

Schedule and Abstracts (PDF file)

Mailing List

Workshop Videos

Objectives

Our objectives:

We wish to extend to sparse and combinatorial structures the benefits that random matrix theory has had on continuous and dense systems. Topics will concentrate on applications to random structures including random graphs, networks,compressed sensing, sparse matrices, and low rank approximation theory.

Our approach:

There are a number of outstanding references on random structures available to practitioners wanting to address a new problem they might encounter. The goal of this workshop is Making this rich body of knowledge accessible to the non-specialist will jump-start the discovery of new applications of this theory. Introducing mathematicians to a set of related applied problems can lead to the development of newer and more powerful techniques.

We believe that bringing together the practitioners and the mathematicians will jumpstart research in the area of sparse random structures. By incorporating an explicit emphasis on the dialogue between practitioners and theorists, we hope that an important contribution of the workshop will be the development of sparse random matrix models that adequately capture the essential complexities of the real-world problems without being so complicated that theorists cannot get answers for them. The initial conversations will surely have to be on an application-by-application basis with moderated discussion sessions between theorists and practitioners in the field to ensure that aspects of the problem that could affect the solution are not missed.

We wish to involve and envision a heavy role for young researchers who can benefit from the interplay of disciplines represented so as to obtain breakthroughs that are so valuable in this area.

Progress on this front is likely to be deliberate because there is an art to model building which makes it difficult to rush. We believe that a five day workshop will allow us to schedule just the right amount of structured time for such informal conversations.

Longer term objective: If the past is any indicator of the future than it seems as though every time a new scientific or engineering community has re-discovered random matrices then a whole new set of applications and possibilities seems to open up. The fortuitous meeting of Montgomery and Dyson over tea at Princeton was one such instance that led to the remarkable connection between the Riemann-Zeta hypothesis and random matrix theory A workshop that at once builds community among those actively involved in the field and reaches out to a broader audience can hopefully help forge another such connection.