CS 8803: Statistical Physics in Algorithms and Combinatorics

CS 8803

Spring 2025

Monday, Wednesday 12:30 - 1:45 pm in Molecular Sciences 1224

Instructor

Will Perkins

wperkins3@gatech.edu

Office: Klaus 2222

Office Hours: Wednesdays 11:30-12:30pm, or by appointment

Course Information

Main Topics of the Course:

  1. Fundamentals of statistical physics: Gibbs measures, partition functions, correlations, cumulants
  2. Models: Ising, Potts, hard-core, spin glasses, perceptron
  3. Phase transitions, uniquenes of Gibbs measure, Lee-Yang theory
  4. Cluster expansion
  5. Phase coexistence: Peierls' arguments, Pirogov-Sinai theory
  6. Thresholds in random graphs
  7. Random CSP's
  8. Large deviations in random graphs
  9. Statistical inference and planted models
  10. Cavity method
  11. Solution space geometry and algorithmic barriers
References