Organizers: Flemming Topsøe and Peter Harremoes,
Department of Mathematics, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
The goal is to bridge the gap between the mathematical side and the physical side of information theory. The workshop will deal with
- Shannons break-through
- Truth and description (MaxEnt a la Jaynes, Description length a la Kolmogorov and Rissanen)
- Implications for probability theory and statistics (limit theorems, large deviations, test theory)
- Rate distortion theory
- Quantum information theory (the qubit, entanglement, capacities)
- Multi-user communication and other less well founded theories
A tutorial introducing the above topics is also planned. Background material on information theory can be found in the Chapter: Classical Information Theory of the Handbook on the Phylosophy of the Information (via this link you also find other relevant material). This will allow some presentations to relate findings to the background material. Other contributions will deal with more specialized subjects but all have information theory and the objects of this theory as a common denominator.
Organizer: Bosiljka Tadic,
Theoretical Physics Department, J. Stefan Institute, Ljubljana
In the recent years networks invaded all sciences. The complex networks geometry is a basis for rich phenomena and emergent properties, offering a prospective field for new theoretical concepts and research methods.
The Workshop on "Networks" as part of the International Conference NEXT Sigma Phi 2005 will focus on several aspects of current Statistical Physics Research on Complex Networks. The emphasis is on the interplay between different approaches and understanding universal properties of real -world networks. The following general topics will be considered
(1) Trends in Theory of Networks
(2) Modeling Network Topology, Function & Processes
(3) Real-World Networks and Complex Systems Dynamics
and will cover recent activity in theory of evolving networks and graphs, ensembles of networks, spectra and self-organized networks, the interplay of stochastic processes and topology of the network substrate, and application to real data such as earth-quakes, gene expressions, financial data and social interactions, and complex systems dynamics which can be represented as a network problem.
A tutorial dealing with the introductory concepts is also planned mainly addressed to the beginner researchers in the field. Background material for the tutorial part of the workshop will be post on the NEXT2005-homepage by the end of March 2005. The workshop will take from 1 to 3 half-days with approximately 10-20 speakers.
PHYSICS OF RISKS & ECONOPHYSICS
Organizer: Marcel Ausloos,
University of Liege, Belgium
The quantitative analysis and planning of risk is becoming a matter of priority to the management and control of different social, biological and technological systems as finance, food lines, virus spreading in humans and electronic networks, flood and landslides, traffic in the air, on the sea and on hard ground, climate in general, rupture of materials, economy disruption (strikes or machine failure) and many others.
Past performances of systems showing different degrees of randomness, ranging (but not including) from the fully stochatics to the deterministic, might help to envisage, quantify and assessing the possibility of their predictability.
The Workshop on the "PHYSICS OF RISKS & ECONOPHYSICS" will offer a perspective on new theoretical models, tools and application. The Workshop as part of the International Conference NEXT- SigmaPhi 2005 will, in particular, allow to exchange and spread the above ideas from Statistical Mechanics foundamentals to the other research and application fields mainly including Networks, Biophysics, Stochastic Dynamics, Information and Communication Theory.
The workshop will take from 1 to 3 half-days with approximately 10-20 speakers.
A tutorial dealing with the introductory concepts is also planned mainly addressed to the young researchers in the field. Background material for the tutorial part of the workshop will be post on the NEXT2005-homepage by the end of March 2005.
Organizers: Fabio Marchesoni, Department of Physics, University of Camerino,
Lutz Schimanski-Geier, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
Due to the upcoming centenary of Einstein's 'miracle year' in 2005, numerous activities, exhibitions, and conferences are presently being prepared worldwide on Brownian motion and related topics. At variance with such large events, the organizers of this Workshop intend to gather at NEXT2005 a small number of qualified experts from different areas of natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, medicine to discuss in a more relaxed and technical format on the state of the art of Brownian motion and its future cross-disciplinary developments and applications.
Particular attention will be devoted to a new view that has been developing in recent years. Traditionally, noise related to microscopic Brownian motion degrades the information contained in the system response, destroys temporal and spatial patterns. Hence, in most cases, researchers aim at minimizing noise effects as much as possible. However, it became clear lately that noise in out-of-equilibrium nonlinear systems can in fact act in the opposite way: Noise can be exploited to magnify certain properties of the nonlinear system response, thus realizing new ordered behaviours or enhancing signal transmission. Transport in ion-channels, synchronization/coherence in chemical and biological extended systems, virus propagation, forecasting protocols are just a few examples that illustrate the subtle beneficial synergy between noise and nonlinearity.
A tutorial dealing with the introductory concepts is also planned mainly addressed to the beginner researchers in the field. Background material for the tutorial part of the workshop will be post on the NEXT2005-homepage by the end of March 2005. The workshop will take from 1 to 3 half-days with approximately 10-20 speakers.