Student Probability Seminar

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Self Avoiding Walks

Speaker: Alex Rozinov

Location: Warren Weaver Hall 202

Date: Friday, November 14, 2014, 2 p.m.

Synopsis:

A big open problem in probability is proving that self avoiding walks (SAW) are conformally invariant. In this talk we will discuss recent progress on SAWs. In particular we will cover Smirnov's and Dominil-Copin's incredible proof that the connective constant for SAWs is \(\sqrt{2+\sqrt{2}}\). We will give an overview of what it means to be conformally invariant and time-pertaining, discuss other problems in this area. The talk requires no prior knowledge and will not dwell much on Schramm-Loewner evolution (SLE) theory.