Thursday 21 March at 2:30 pm in Room 3014 of Building U5, Prof. Corinna Ulcigrai (Institut für Mathematik - Universität Zürich) will hold the following seminar
Title: Periodic surfaces and deterministic random walks: dynamics between geometry andprobability
Abstract: Many deterministic systems display chaotic features: the stronger the chaotic features, thebetter the system can be by approximated by a probabilistic model, an idea that can be traced back to Boltzmann andexplains the success of the branch of dynamical systems known as ergodic theory. In this talk we will discuss systems whichdisplay only 'mild’ chaotic features, such as the geodesic flow on surfaces which a flat geometry or the Ehrenfest model inmathematical physics. Recent breakthroughs on our understanding of the latter model, introduced more than a century ago,were made possible by the powerful tools exploiting moduli spaces of surfaces and Teichmueller dynamics, an area which hasattracted the work of several Fields medallists. We will in particular highlight some results of probabilistic flavor that canstill be proven for these deterministic systems, hidden in the fractal structure of trajectories and the 'deterministic randomwalks' that describe them.
The seminar will be followed by refreshment
All interested are invited to participate