Permanent & Determinant: non-identical twins

Join us for a special talk by Turing Award-winner Avi Wigderson. 

Bio

Prof. Avi Wigderson is a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. Prof. Wigderson is a world-renowned mathematician and computer scientist with works spanning complexity theory, derandomization, cryptography, distributed computing, spectral graph theory, and combinatorics. He is a recipient of the Nevanlinna Prize (now known as the Abacus Medal), Gödel Prize, Abel Prize, and the Turing Award.

Abstract

The Determinant is undoubtedly the most important polynomial function in mathematics. Its lesser-known sibling, the Permanent, plays very important roles in enumerative combinatorics, statistical and quantum physics, and the theory of computation. In this lecture I plan to survey some of the many remarkable properties of the permanent, its applications and impact on fundamental computational problems, its similarities to and apparent differences from the determinant, and how these relate to the P vs. NP problem.

This lecture is intended to a general Math & CS audience.

Registration

Prof. Wigderson’s talk is open for all.

The talk is part of the 9th Workshop on Algebraic Complexity Theory (WACT).  If you wish to attend other talks at the workshop, please register at the workshop website (there is no registration fee).