BSM
COLLOQUIUM   LECTURE
     Professor
       LÁSZLÓ LOVÁSZ

(Microsoft Research and Eötvös University)


is going to give a talk on

 THURSDAY, November 18th, 16:15 (please note the change of the time)

What is a phase transition?
 

venue:   Kitaibel Room,  South Building, Eötvös University,
                  Pázmány Péter sétány
The venue of the lecture this time will be at Eötvös University, since the colloquium is joined with the math program of them (another opportunity to meet Hungarian math students). The campus of Eötvös university (ELTE) is south of the Buda side bridgefoot of Petöfi bridge and can be approached by streetcars 6 or 4 (from Blaha Lujza square, e.g.). Get of at the first stop after crossing Danube and go to the south building of ELTE according to this map (there are two huge buildings of ELTE facing the Danube). Enter the building on the West entrance (not the one facing Danube, but on the opposite side) and find Kitaibel room on the ground floor close to this entrance (the building is huge and it is easy to get lost even within a floor, so it is much better if you enter the building via the apprpriate entrance)
 

Abstract:

In physics, "phase transition" refers to events like the melting of the ice or the de-magnetization at a certain temperature: abrupt change in behavior
while a parameter changes continuously. But this phenomenon is not restricted to physics: trafic jams, blackouts and many other dramatic events
can be explained from the same underlying mathematical principles. This will be illustrated by some simple models and simulations.