BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:On lattice models and finite fields - Professor Maxim Kontsevich (
 IHES\, Paris)
DTSTART:20080527T160000Z
DTEND:20080527T170000Z
UID:TALK8793@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Helen Innes
DESCRIPTION:I will discuss a surprising analogy between (a) lattice models
  of statistical physics (e.g. the Ising model) and (b) some generalization
 s of point-counting in algebraic varieties over finite fields.  In particu
 lar\, Hecke operators in the functional case of the Langlands corresponden
 ce give rise to an infinite tower of matrices of exponentially growing siz
 e\, whose spectra behave similarly to the spectra of transfer matrices for
  Ising-type lattice models with periodic boundary conditions.  I propose a
  conjecture that could explain this phenomenon.  This conjecture could als
 o give an explicit\, “quantum computer”-type construction of a general
  finite field.\n\n\n\n
LOCATION:Wolfson Room (MR 2) Centre for Mathematical Sciences\, Wilberforc
 e Road\, Cambridge
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR