| | | Reports on Recent Activities |
The Qrandom workshop, part of the Bernoulli Society's programme for the World Mathematical Year 2000, has taken place at EURANDOM, The Netherlands, in February 2001. It has brought together experts in classical probability and statistics, pure mathematics (C* algebras, quantum probability), theoretical physicists, experimental physicists from quantum optics and solid state physics, and computer science. There was intense interest in one another's contributions to the emerging field of Quantum Information and the role of stochastic modelling in the field.
The conference started on a note of excitement with a contribution from Kees Harman from the Delft group working on a SQUID qubit, a macroscopic quantum system which might form a building block in a future quantum computer. Further highlights were A. Holevo's brilliant survey of known results and open problems in quantum communication theory, and R. Werner's presentation of his very recent work with M. Keyl on state estimation (large deviation theory). M. D'Ariano presented a new concept "quantum holography" whereby a quantum transformation (mapping from input states to output states and output data) is statistically estimated in a single experiment, using entanglement and superposition.
Qrandom meeting: Alexander Holevo
The workshop was a follow-up to a previous workshop of similar nature held at MaPhySto, Aarhus. A next workshop seems to be forming itself, to be held in a year at the Max Planck Institute for quantum optics in Dresden. Thus we already have created an active informal research network with a steady flow of international activities. We hope to interest Bernoulli Society's CPSPS in sponsoring future meetings.
Several interactions between participants at the workshop seem already have led to new research results and projects. In particular, one informal (late-evening..) discussion on the Monty Hall (three doors, quizmaster,..) problem is going to result very soon in a paper on the quantum version of this problem, which has surprising and deep ramifications.
The workshop was concluded on a high note again with a public day, including a beautiful talk by physics Nobel prize-winner G. 't Hooft on determinism at the Planck scale, and a survey of decoherence by P. Stamp. Professor 't Hooft would prefer quantum mechanics to be a deterministic, not a stochastic theory. Decoherence is the fact that quantum superpositions, essential for making a quantum computer work, decay through interaction with the outside world. Modelling this also has a strong stochastic component, since it depends on the statistical properties of the many component particles in the environment. Attention was paid to societal and technological aspects of quantum information.
Full details are available at http://www.eurandom.nl/workshops/Qrandom.htm
Richard Gill
Qrandom meeting: Reinhard Werner
The Second Workshop on Bayesian Inference in Stochastic Processes was held at Villa Monastero, Varenna, Lake of Como, Italy, between 31st May and 2nd June 2001. The meeting followed the one organised in Madrid in 1998. The Workshop, endorsed by ISBA (International Society for Bayesian Analysis), was funded by CNR-IAMI, Università "Bocconi", Università dell'Insubria, Università degli Studi di Pavia and Pavia Research unit of a MURST (Italian Ministry for University and Research) Research Programme.
There were 90 participants coming from all over Europe, the USA and Venezuela. There were 8 invited, renowned speakers (Gelfand, Kuo, Mueller, Rigo, Roberts, Soyer, van der Vaart and Ylvisaker) whereas 12 young, promising researchers were invited to present their work. In addition there were 8 contributed oral presentations and 20 posters.
The number of participants and presentations have confirmed the interest in the field and its importance. Stochastic processes are relevant in both their theoretical and applied aspects and Bayesian methods prove to be useful in their statistical analysis. The organisers aimed to provide a "meeting point" for all those who are working in the field and to foster the researches in the area.
The papers focused on inferences in stochastic processes, choice of stochastic processes as priors and methods for Bayesian inference based upon stochastic processes. The programme combined well established areas like time-series, spatio-temporal models, nonparametrics, MCMC methods and less frequently studied like queues, point processes, diffusion and birth-death models and other stochastic processes.
The conference was held in an ancient Villa, surrounded by a magnificent garden in a picturesque little village. A trip boat on the lake to the renowned town of Bellagio and to Menaggio, where dinner was served in an ancient hotel, ended the workshop.
Because of the interest in the Workshop, the third workshop is under planning, probably in Spain in the year 2003.
More details on the conference programme and location, along with a final report by Susie Bayarri, can be found at http://www.iami.mi.cnr.it/conferences/varenna.html.
Fabrizio Ruggeri
Milan, Italy
In the first week of July 2001, some 130 delegates from 24 countries convened on the Odense campus of the University of Southern Denmark to participate in the 16th IWSM, organized this year by the Department of Statistics and Demography in Odense. The University's brand new conference centre provided an ideal setting for the meeting, and even the Scandinavian weather collaborated by showing its most beautiful side. The scientific programme included a tutorial, six invited speakers and 68 contributed papers, and numerous topics and applications were discussed such as, for example, air pollution, financial data, mixed models, and longitudinal data. True to the IWSM tradition, the workshop was conducted in a congenial and friendly athmosphere, helped by the vigorous social programme that included a boat trip and a reception hosted by the City of Odense. Indeed, many delegates come back to the workshop year after year, and I am sure that we will see many familiar faces at next year's workshop in Crete; see http://www.unl.ac.uk/iwsm.
Bent Jørgensen
Odense, Denmark
16th IWSM delegates at Valdemars Slot Castle on the island of Tåsinge
The conference was held at the University of the Armed Forces in Hamburg, Germany, on 23-28 July 2001. It was sponsored by the German Research Foundation, the organizers were Dankmar Böhning (Berlin) and Wilfried Seidel (Hamburg).
The conference started with two tutorials about theoretical and computational aspects of mixtures given by Bruce Lindsay and Dankmar Böhning on Monday, 23 July. From Tuesday to Saturday, over 150 participants discussed a wide spectrum of methods and applications of mixture models; the abstracts are still accessible on the conference homepage
Invited speakers were: Murray Aitkin, Halima Bensmail, Andre Berchtold, Annibale Biggeri, Gilles Celeux, Chukiat Viwatwongkasem, Dechavudh Nityasuddhi, Ludwig Fahrmeir, Anton Formann, Herwig Friedl, Peter Hoff, Lynn Hunt, Goeran Kauermann, Leonhard Knorr-Held, Emmanuel Lesaffre, Mary Lesperance, Bruce G. Lindsay, Marianthi Markatou, Geoff McLachlan, Karl Mosler, Valentin Patilea, Ramani S. Pilla, Adrian E. Raftery, Juergen Rost, Jesus Sarol, Matthew Stephens, Edward Susko and Sara van de Geer. The award for the best poster was given to K. Wang, A.H. Lee, K.K.W. Yau and P.J. Carrivick. The meeting became a scientific success, owing to many excellent presentations and posters as well as to interesting discussions in a stimulating atmosphere.
Selected and refereed papers will be published in a special issue of Computational Statistics and Data Analysis, `Recent Developments in Mixture Modelling'.
An additional highlight of the conference was a boat trip on the river Alster, including an Italian style conference dinner, where participants and their guests enjoyed a beautiful view of Hamburg from its lakes and waterways.
The organizers would like to express their appreciation to the assistants and other members of the department of the local organizer and also to the administration of the University of the Armed Forces, who put a great deal of effort and work into the project.
Wilfried Seidel
Hamburg, Germany
Left to right:
D.Böhning and W.Seidel, G. McLachlan, R. Pilla, E. Liebscher, E. Susko
| | | Reports on Recent Activities |