Modern Approaches in Asymptotics of Polynomials (07w5032)
Organizers
Peter Borwein (Simon Fraser University)
Doron Lubinsky (Georgia Institute of Technology)
Edward Saff (Vanderbilt University)
Description
Some of the world's leading experts on polynomials will converge on the Banff Centre next week, November 11-16, 2007, where the Banff International Research Station will be hosting a workshop on modern approaches to asymptotics of polynomials. This event is co-organized by Peter Borwein of Simon Fraser University, Doron Lubinsky of Georgia Tech, and Ed Saff of Vanderbilt University.
The workshop will focus on recent advances in investigating how polynomials behave as their degree grows to infinity. Potential theory, Riemann-Hilbert methods, and operator theory have fundamentally changed the way this topic is investigated. There are many applications: to number theory, mathematical physics, and the approximation of functions. One particularly important connection is to the theory of random matrices, which are arrays of random numbers. Random matrices play a key role in statistical physics, and are even connected to the Riemann Hypothesis, the most famous unsolved problem in mathematics.
The workshop will focus on recent advances in investigating how polynomials behave as their degree grows to infinity. Potential theory, Riemann-Hilbert methods, and operator theory have fundamentally changed the way this topic is investigated. There are many applications: to number theory, mathematical physics, and the approximation of functions. One particularly important connection is to the theory of random matrices, which are arrays of random numbers. Random matrices play a key role in statistical physics, and are even connected to the Riemann Hypothesis, the most famous unsolved problem in mathematics.
