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************************* Special Date/Time/Venue **********************
Joint Seminar
Department of Statistics
and
Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management,
The
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Title: The Brain, the Universe, and Random Processes on Manifolds
Speaker: Prof. Robert J. Adler
Date : September 1st, 2006 (Friday)
Time : 4:00pm -- 5:00pm.
Venue : Lecture Theatre 3,
The
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Abstract:
I shall start with the observation that, from a statistical point of
view, mapping the human brain and analyzing the COBE (Cosmic
Background Explorer) data over the entire universe are equivalent
problems. The next step will be to convince you that while handling
the brain involves looking at an eight dimensional Whitney stratified
manifold, the universe is only a five dimensional problem. Along the
way, I shall explain what a Whitney stratified manifold is. In the
third step I shall give the best solution to date (and perhaps the
best possible) to finding sharp and practical estimates for the
probability that the suprema of Gaussian random fields over such
manifolds exceeds given levels, a problem that has been around, albeit
in simpler forms, for over 70 years. To conclude, we shall see what
this says about brains and the first few moments after the ¡®Big
Bang¡¯ and also look at some open problems.
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************************ ALL ARE WELCOME **********************
Enquiries: Mr. Peixiang Zhao or Prof. Jeffrey Xu Yu,
Department of Systems Engineering and Engineering Management
CUHK
Email: seg5810@se.cuhk.edu.hk
Website: http://www.se.cuhk.edu.hk/~seg5810
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