ITR/SY: Discrete Models & Algorithms in the Sciences

这项研究集中在四个主要的计算主题上，这些主题以不同的方式联系在一起：1.量子计算：研究新的量子算法，将纠缠作为计算资源，以及与量子物理基本问题的联系，如从经典到量子的过渡。2.细胞调控过程的建模：在后基因组时代，在基因、蛋白质和环境条件之间相互作用的水平上对整个细胞的运作进行计算建模。统计物理和计算复杂性：研究统计物理的核心概念，如相变和临界指数，重点研究它们的计算表现及其与分析具有局部相互作用的大系统的相关性。数理经济学与互联网：研究互联网作为一种新的计算产物和复杂的经济领域，以及博弈论和机制设计的算法改编，这是此类研究所必需的。四位PI-理查德·卡普、克里斯托斯·帕帕迪米特里、阿里斯泰尔·辛克莱和乌梅什·瓦兹拉尼--都在加州大学伯克利分校的计算机科学部工作。他们中的每一个人都有至少在上述一个领域的研究记录，并至少对另一个领域有浓厚的兴趣。该项目还包括来自四个领域的一名资深科学家：Birgitta Whaley(量子物理学)、Adam Arkin(定量生物学)、Yuval Peres(概率和统计物理学)和Scott Shenker(经济学和互联网)。这项研究植根于这样一种认识，即计算视角在自然科学和数学科学中正变得越来越重要，相反，科学正在对计算理论提出新的挑战，其中许多是相关的。它的目标是在一个专门的研究和研究生教育计划中促进这种联系。

The research is centered on four major computational themes which are linked in various ways:1. Quantum Computation: A study of novel quantum algorithms, of entanglement as a computational resource, and of connections to fundamental issues in quantum physics, such as the transition from classical to quantum. 2. Modeling the Regulatory Processes of the Cell:In the post-genomic era, the computational modeling of the operation of an entire cell at the level of interactions among genes, proteins and environmental conditions.3. Statistical Physics and Computational Complexity: A study of central concepts of statistical physics, such as phase transitions and critical exponents, with emphasis on their computational manifestations and their relevance to the analysis of large systems with local interactions.4. Mathematical Economics and the Internet: A study of the Internet as a novel computational artifact and a complex economic arena, as well as of the algorithmic adaptations of Game Theory and Mechanism Design necessary for such a study.The four PIs --- Richard Karp, Christos Papadimitriou, Alistair Sinclair and Umesh Vazirani --- are all based in the Computer Science Division at UC Berkeley. Each of them has a track record of research in at least one of the above areas, and a substantial interest in at least one other. The project also includes one senior scientist from each of the four areas: Birgitta Whaley (Quantum Physics), Adam Arkin (Quantitative Biology), Yuval Peres (Probability and Statistical Physics), and Scott Shenker (Economics and the Internet). The research is rooted in a realization that a computational perspective is becoming increasingly important in the Natural and Mathematical Sciences,and conversely that the Sciences are posing new challenges for the theory of computation, many of which are related. It aims to foster this connection within a dedicated program of research and graduate education.