Report for the academic year - Libraries - Institute for Advanced Study

IAS/PARK CITY MATHEMATICS INSTITUTE
In addition to the daily lecture series, there was a problem session held each evening for
the undergraduates. Several undergraduate participants also attended the lectures of the
Graduate Summer School.
Graduate Summer School and Research Program
The Graduate Summer School met for three formal lectures each day and two problem
sessions. More so than in past years, the participants of the Research Program also
attended the lectures of the Graduate Summer School.
The lecture series were as follows:
Introduction to Complexity Theory Through Its Open Questions, Steven Rudich, Carnegie
Mellon University
Exploring Complexity Through Reductions , Sanjeev Arora, Princeton University
Quantum Computing, Ran Raz, Weizmann Institute of Science
Communications Complexity , Ran Raz
Proof Complexity , Paul Beame, University of Washington
Algebraic Complexity, Michael Ben-Or, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
Pseudorandomness: Blum-Micali-Yao Framework, Oded Goldreich, Weizmann
Institute of Science
Interactive Proofs, Salil Vadhan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Pseudorandomness: Nisan-Wigderson Framework, Luca Trevisan, Columbia University
Probabilistically Checkable Proofs, Madhu Sudan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Research Program held eight seminars during the three-week Summer Session:
Chemoff Type Bounds for Sum of Dependent Random Variables and Their Applications in
Randomized Algorithms, Van Vu, Microsoft Research
Phase Transitions in Computer Science, Part I and Part 11, Jennifer Chayes and Christian
Borgs, Microsoft Research
Enormous Integers in Real Life, Harvey Friedman, The Ohio State University
Computation on Groups. A Bird's Eye View, Igor Pak, Massachusetts Institute of
Technolgy
The Zig-Zag Graph Product, and Elementary Construction of Expander Graphs,
Omer Reingold, AT&T and Institute for Advanced Study
Diophantine Equations in Two-variables, Minhyong Kim, University of Arizona
Natural Proofs, Steven Rudich, Carnegie Mellon University
Cross Program Activities
The Cross Program Activities consist of a formal presentation four times each week, plus
several evening gatherings and social occasions throughout the Summer Session.
Formal presentations wete made on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons in
Wolfensohn Hall. Titles were as follows:
Some Fundamental Insights of Computational Complexity Theory, Avi Wigderson, Institute
for Advanced Study
Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics , Liping Ma, author
Mathematics, Music, and the Sublime, Edward Rothstein, The New York Times, and Robert
Taub, Institute for Advanced Study
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