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Persi Diaconis: Who Needs Positivity?

Persi Diaconis: Stanford University

Time: Fri 2012-02-10 13.30 - 16.30


Location: Oskar Kleins auditorium, AlbaNova

Classical theorems of probability such as the central limit theorem or the Perron-Frobenius theorem seem to lean on positivity. It is natural to ask what happens without positivity. It turns out that there is a perfectly nice limit theory (some restrictions apply, as they say in the advertisements). This was started by Schoenberg and continued by Thomee and others. It has applications to data smoothing and numerical schemes for running PDE's. This is joint work with Laurent Saloff-Coste.

Schedule

13.30-14.15 Precolloquium: for PhD and master students

14.30-15.30 Colloquium talk by Persi Diaconis

15.30-16.30 Coffee and SMC social get-together

Title Date
Hendrik Lenstra: Escher and the Droste effect Dec 12, 2012
Bo Berndtsson: Complex Brunn-Minkowski theory Nov 21, 2012
Martin Aigner: From Irrational Numbers to Perfect Matchings: 100 Years of Markov’s Uniqueness Problem Oct 10, 2012
Vladimir Rokhlin: Accurate Randomized Algorithms of Numerical Analysis May 19, 2012
Martin R. Bridson: Discrete groups: A story of geometry, complexity, and imposters Apr 11, 2012
Mats Gyllenberg: Rock, scissors, paper — what a children's game can tell us about evolution Mar 14, 2012
Persi Diaconis: Who Needs Positivity? Feb 10, 2012