The Korteweg-de Vries Institute for Mathematics (KdVI) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) invites you to apply for a postdoctoral position on the project entitled Algorithmic and Combinatorial Aspects of Partition Functions.

Project description:

This project concerns the study of various aspects of partition functions and graph polynomials. This is a very active area of research and lies at the interface of combinatorics, probability, theoretical computer science, and statistical physics. The partition function of the Potts model and the hardcore model, also known as the Tutte polynomial and the independence polynomial respectively are prototypical examples. Evaluating these polynomials at certain points gives a lot of information about the graphs, e.g. the number of independent sets, the number of spanning trees, the number of proper q-colourings of a graph, etc. Some of the fundamental questions in this area include: What sort of network structure allows for efficient computation of the partition function? Which network structures maximizes/minimizes the partition function? How does the partition function of a random network behave? Recent developments have shown strong connections between phase transitions in statistical physics and answers to these type of questions.

Further Information:

For more information and online application, see our webpage:
http://kdvi.uva.nl/vacancies/vacancies.html

The KdVI strives for a better gender balance in its staff. We therefore strongly encourage women to apply for this position.

Closing date: 14 April 2019