Disconnection, Random Interlacements, and the Gaussian Free Field

11 April 2019

(Right) Dr. Pierre Nolin, moderator of the lecture and Associate Professor of Department of Mathematics at CityU presented the souvenir to (left) Prof. Alain-Sol Sznitman.

Professor Alain-Sol Sznitman, a renowned mathematician, delivered a distinguished lecture titled “Disconnection, Random Interlacements, and the Gaussian Free Field” for the Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study (HKIAS) at City University of Hong Kong (CityU) on 9 April 2019.

Random interlacement is one of the hot topics in contemporary probability, which connects many areas of Mathematics and Physics. Professor Alain-Sol Sznitman, Professor at the ETH Zurich in Switzerland, discussed the investigation of percolative properties of random interlacements in this talk. He pointed out that the random interlacements are closely related to a classical model of random field – Gaussian free field.

Professor Sznitman attempted to address the lecture to non-specialist audiences and he described some of the developments on these matters that took place roughly over the last ten years. Graduate students and post-doctoral researchers were glad to have such an opportunity of having in-depth discussions with the topmost mathematician.

Professor Sznitman's research concerns probability theory, with a special focus on problems connected with physics, in particular problems of random media. He is the author of several scientific publications and member of several scientific committees. Professor Sznitman is a member of the Academia Europaea and a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society.

Professors who attended the lecture: (3rd from left) Prof. John Ball, Senior Fellow of HKIAS and Professor at Heriot-Watt University, (4th from left) Prof. Philippe G. Ciarlet, Senior Fellow of HKIAS and University Distinguished Professor at CityU, (5th from left) Prof. Alain-Sol Sznitman, (4th from right) Dr. Pierre Nolin, (2nd from right) Prof. Felipe Cucker, Head and Chair Professor of Department of Mathematics at CityU and (1st from right) Professor Jacob Huang, Executive Director of HKIAS and Chair Professor of Department of Materials Science and Engineering at CityU.

[ Back ]