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« DIMACS Workshop on Entropy and Optimization

DIMACS Workshop on Entropy and Optimization

May 18, 2022 - May 19, 2022

Location:

Online Event

Organizer(s):

Mohit Singh, Georgia Institute of Technology

Nisheeth Vishnoi, EPFL

Entropy-maximizing probability distributions subject to observed marginal constraints have been central to many scientific disciplines since the work of Boltzmann. These distributions, over both discrete and continuous domains, have recently played an important role in both computer science and mathematics. In particular, entropy-maximizing probability distributions have been used in interesting ways in applications such as algorithms for counting problems, algorithms for NP-hard optimization problems, and interior-point methods for convex programming. There has also been a history of using entropy-maximizing distributions in combinatorics, Markov chains, geometric functional analysis, and learning.

The goal of this workshop is to understand these connections systematically and explore further possibilities by bringing together researchers from computer science and mathematics.

View video playlist.

 

Wednesday, May 18, 2022

9:50 AM - 10:00 AM

Welcome from Organizers

Mohit Singh, Georgia Institute of Technology

Nisheeth Vishnoi, EPFL

10:00 AM - 10:45 AM

Optimal Mixing of Glauber Dynamics for Spin Systems via Spectral Independence

Zongchen Chen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

10:45 AM - 11:30 AM
11:30 AM - 12:15 PM
12:15 PM - 1:30 PM

Break + Q & A/Discussion

1:30 PM - 2:15 PM

Statistically Near-Optimal Hypothesis Selection

Mark Braverman, Princeton University

2:15 PM - 3:00 PM

Evolving Entropic Regularization

Sebastien Bubeck, Microsoft Research

3:00 PM - 3:15 PM

Q & A/Discussion

3:15 PM - 4:00 PM

Open Problem Session

 

Thursday, May 19, 2022

10:00 AM - 10:45 AM

Many Facets of Bethe Approximation

Péter Csikvári, Alfréd Rényi Institute of Mathematics

10:45 AM - 11:30 AM

A Quick Estimate for the Volume of a Polyhedron

Alexander Barvinok, University of Michigan

11:30 AM - 12:15 PM

On the Maximum-entropy Sampling Problem

Jon Lee, University of Michigan

12:15 PM - 1:30 PM

Break + Q & A/Discussion

1:30 PM - 2:15 PM
2:15 PM - 3:00 PM

Strong Expansion of Sparse Distributions

Tali Kaufman, Bar-Ilan University

3:00 PM - 3:15 PM

Q & A/Discussion

3:15 PM - 4:00 PM

Open Problem Session

 

Presentations at the workshop are by invitation, but we invite all registered participants to contribute topics for the Open Problem sessions that will take place at the end of each day.

 

The workshop is being held online and is open to all who register. Please register using the link at the bottom of the page. Registration is required for admission to the online venue. Please allow some time for your registration to be processed (which will only occur during business hours). We will invite you to contribute to the open problem session once you are registered.

 

Once your registration is processed, you can click here (or the picture) to enter the virtual venue. You will be taken to a Landing Page that contains information on the virtual venue, how to navigate within it, and how to get help during the event. You will enter the event from the Landing Page. Please feel free to review this Participant Guide prepared by our event hosts at Virtual Chair especially for this event.

Registration for this event is closed.