I will introduce some basic objects, terminology, and questions from statistical mechanics and then translate these to combinatorics to arrive at some new problems and new perspectives on old problems. Applications discussed will include extremal and enumerative problems about independent sets in graphs and problems about sphere packings in Euclidean space. The five lectures will be:
- Fundamentals of statistical physics
- Extremal combinatorics of sparse graphs
- Expansion methods and enumeration
- Combinatorics at low temperatures
- Sphere packings and kissing numbers
Schedule
- Tue Nov 17: 19-20 Moscow time
- Fri Nov 20: 18-19 Moscow time
-
Tue Nov 24: 19-20 Moscow time
-
Fri Nov 27: 18-19 Moscow time
-
Tue Dec 1: 19-20 Moscow time
