Jeff Steif: Noise Sensitivity of Boolean Functions and Critical Percolation
Time: Wed 2016-10-26 15.15 - 17.00
Location: Oskar Klein, AlbaNova
Participating: Professor Jeff Steif, Chalmers University of Technology
Schedule
14:00-15:00 Precolloquium lecture by Sebastian Rosengren (Room FP41 , AlbaNova)
15:15-16:15 Colloquium lecture by Jeff Steif (Room Oskar Klein, AlbaNova)
16:15-17:00 SMC social get together with refreshments
Abstract
I will introduce and discuss the notion of noise sensitivity for Boolean functions, which captures the idea that certain events are very sensitive to small perturbations. While a few examples will be given, the main example which we will examine from this perspective is so-called 2-dimensional critical percolation from statistical mechanics. There will also be some connections to combinatorics and theoretical computer science. The mathematics behind the story includes, among other things, Fourier analysis on the hypercube. No background concerning percolation or Fourier analysis will be assumed.