Recent research efforts demonstrate that very interesting collective behaviors and phase transition phenomena exist in various distributed information systems, such as large constraint satisfaction formulas, low-density-parity-check codes, networks of neurons, peer-to-peer computer networks, and combinatorial optimization problems. The application of statistical physics methods to these system has lead to great progress in understanding the typical computation complexity of random constraint satisfaction/optimization problems, the solution space evolution and phase transitions of random combinatorial satisfaction problems, the performances of low-density-parity-check codes, ...... The interaction of statistical physics and computer/information science has also resulted in the invention of new efficient message-passing algorithms. The developed methods and ideas will also be very valuable for studying the equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium properties of disordered and frustrated systems.

These pioneer research practices of computer scientists, mathematicians, and physicists have created a new interdisciplinary field that is growing fast. Being a satellite meeting for STATPHYS-24, the 2010 Beijing workshop will be a platform for communicating latest research results, for presenting challenging problems, and for open-minded discusses of new research directions. The topics of this workshop will include (but not limited to) the following:

 

• Phase transitions in combinatorial satisfaction/optimization problems
• Reconstruction of neural and gene-regulation networks from correlation measurements
• Message-passing algorithms
• Glassy dynamics of search processes

Speakers
 

• Dimitrio Achlioptas  (Department of Computer Science, UC Santa Cruz, USA and RACTI, Greece)
  • Title: Algorithmic Barriers from Phase Transitions
• Mikko Alava  (Department of Applied Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, Finland)
  • Title: Diffusion in solution landscapes
• Erik Aurell  (Department of Computational Biology, Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden)
  • Title: The Inverse Ising Problem
• Yong Gao  (Department of Computer Science, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Canada)
  • Title:  Parameterized tractability of random instances of weighted d-CNF satisfiability: the power of data reduction
• Alexander Hartmann (Institute for Physics, University of Oldenburg, Germany)
  • Title: Negative weight percolation: shortest paths not the easy way
• Yoshiyuki Kabashima (Depart. of Comput. Intelligence and Systems Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan)
  • Title: Statistical mechanics approach to compressive sensing
• Florent Krzakala (Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles, Paris, France)
  • Title: Impossible simulations made easy...
    
• Jorge Kurchan (Ecole Superieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles, Paris, France)
  • Title: Statistical mechanics of Monte Carlo sampling and the sign problem 
• Marc Mezard (Laboratoire de Physique Theorique et Modeles Statistiques, France)
  • Title: Reconstruction of sparse graphical models from data
• David Saad (Non-linearity and Complexity Research Group, Aston University, UK)
  • Title: Inference and analysis of complex systems with two scale interactions  
• Bart Selman (Department of Computer Science, Cornell Univeristy, USA)
  • Title: TBA
• Toshiyuki Tanaka (Graduate School of Inforamtics, Kyoto University)
  • Title: TBA
• Ke Xu/许可: (Department of Computer Science, Beihang University) and Tian
  Liu/刘田 (Department of Computer Science, Peking University)
  • Title: Research on Constraint Satisfaction Problems with Growing Domains 
• Chi Ho Yeung and K. Y. Michael Wong (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China)
  • Title: Optimal location of sources in transportation networks 
• Lenka Zdeborova (Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA)
  • Title: Generalization of the cavity method for adiabatic evolution of Gibbs states  
• Hong Zhao /赵鸿 (Department of Physics, Xiamen University)
  • Title: Are there any connections between the energy diffusion and the heat transportation?     
• Bo Zheng /郑波 (Department of Physics, Zhejiang University)
  • Title: Non-equilibrium critical dynamics and its applications   
• Tao  Zhou /周涛 (Department of  Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China)
  • Title: Ranking, Predicting and Recommending: Information Filtering from Physical Perspectives   
   

Venue and Map

he first two days of the workshop (July 8-9) are held at the SiYuan Conference Hall （思源楼报告厅）, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, which is very close to the stitute of Theoretical Physics (at its left corner). The third day of the workshop (July 10) is held at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics China (KITPC), Conference Room
6620.

For a local map of the workshop venue, pleas click here (AccommodationAndMap.pdf)


 Registration

The registration fee of the workshop is RMB 800.00 (for postdocs and senior scientists) and  RMB 400.00 (for graduate students). The registration fee will be collected on-site.

We take use of the general KITPC registration form for on-line registration. This form is designed mainly for long-period programs. You are not required to fill all the items, but please specify (1) whether you would like to give a contributed talk and/or a poster [if yes, please give us the title, abstract, and if applicable, information on related publications]; (2) whether you would need us to book hotel rooms for your visit. Please follow this link  for on-line registration.  Registration will be closed on 12 April 2010.  Please be kindly reminded that you may need to apply for visa to travel to Beijing.

The workshop will be held in the campus of ITP/KITPC (Zhong-Guan-Cun East Road 55, Beijing 100190). There are two hotels in this same campus, Beijing Wu-Ke Hotel (in Chinese: 物科宾馆) and Ke-Yuan Hotel (in Chinese: 科苑公寓)，and there are also other hotels nearby, such as Royal-King Hotel (融金国际酒店). We have reserved some rooms at Wu-Ke and Ke-Yuan hotels. If you prefer to book hotel rooms by yourself, please inform us in your registration form or by sending an email to statphys2010@itp.ac.cn
 
All participants (including invited speakers) are kindly requested to register on-line. 

Contact

If you have any questions and/or need assistance in, please do not hesitate to contact the organizers through statphys2010@itp.ac.cn

  History 

This Beijing satellite meeting is preceded by several other related workshops/programs/schools at Beijing:

• 01.03.2008-15.04.2008: Collective Dynamics in Information Systems (KITPC Program)
• 03.03.2008-14.03.2008: Second Asian-Pacific School on Statistical Physics and Interdisciplinary Applications (ITP-ICTP Joint School)
• 20.09.2009-22.09.2009: International Conference on Recent Advances in the Interdisciplinary Applications of Statistical Physics (ITP-ICTP Joint Workshop)
• 11.09.2006-19.09.2006: Asian-Pacific School on Statistical Physics and Interdisciplinary Applications (ITP-ICTP Joint School)

Orginizers

• Mikko Alava  (Department of Applied Physics, Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki)
  
• Erik Aurell  (Department of Computational Biology, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm)
  
• Xiaosong Chen  (Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing)
  
• Henri Orland  (Service de Physique Theorique, Centre CEA de Saclay)
  
• Ke Xu   (Department of Computer Sciences, Behang University, Beijing)
  
• Bo Zheng  (Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou)
  
• Haijun Zhou  (Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing)

Sponsors:

• Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences/中国科学院理论物理研究所 
• Natural Science Foundation of China/国家自然科学基金委员会
• China Center for Advanced Science and Technology/中国高等科学技术中心
•  杰克.纳维斯服饰，中山市惠兴纺织制衣有限公司