BEGIN:VCALENDAR
PRODID:-//eluceo/ical//2.0/EN
VERSION:2.0
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:www.tcs.tifr.res.in/event/653
DTSTAMP:20230914T125933Z
SUMMARY:Graphical Models: Algorithms and Complexity
DESCRIPTION:Speaker: Piyush Srivastava (California Institute of Technology\
 nDepartment of Computing and\nMathematical Sciences\n1200 E. California Bl
 vd.\nPasadena\, CA 91125\nUnited States of America)\n\nAbstract: \nAbstrac
 t: Probabilistic graphical models provide a very useful framework for stud
 ying several problems across theoretical computer science and statistics. 
 Undirected graphical models have also been studied extensively in statisti
 cal mechanics under the name of "spin systems".\n\nThe first part of the t
 alk illustrates two examples of the crucial role played by ideas from stat
 istical mechanics in the study of several natural algorithmic problems in 
 theoretical computer science and combinatorics via this connection to spin
  systems. The first connection is between a novel extension of the Lee-Yan
 g theorem and the computational complexity of computing averages such as t
 he mean magnetization of the Ising model and the average size of matchings
 . The second example illustrates the interplay between the study of the co
 rrelation decay phenomenon and the problems of approximate counting and sa
 mpling. In both cases\, the algorithmic view also contributes back to the 
 study of spin systems.\n\nThe second part of the talk considers causal inf
 erence in directed graphical models.  In particular\, we study the "condi
 tion number" of the causal inference problem\, and show that there are gra
 phical models in which the problem is extremely sensitive to errors in the
  input. We then and propose several future directions for combating this i
 ll-conditioning.\n\nThe results in this talk are based on collaborations w
 ith Leonard J. Schulman\, Alistair Sinclair\, Daniel Štefankovič\, and Y
 itong Yin.\n
URL:https://www.tcs.tifr.res.in/web/events/653
DTSTART;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20160122T113000
DTEND;TZID=Asia/Kolkata:20160122T123000
LOCATION:A-201 (STCS Seminar Room)
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR