Statistical physics, originally developed to describe thermodynamic
systems, has been playing for the last decades a central role in modelling
an incredibly large and heterogeneous set of different phenomena taking
for instance place on social, economical or biological systems. Such a
vast field of possible applications has been found also for networks, as a
huge variety of systems can be described in terms of interconnected
elements. After an introductory part introducing these themes as well as
the role of abstract modelling in science, during the presentation it will
be discussed how a statistical physics approach can lead to new insights
as regards three problems of interest in network theory : how some quantity
can be optimally spread on a graph, how to explore it and how to
reconstruct it from partial information. Some final remarks on the
importance such
themes will likely preserve in the coming years conclude the work.
RECRUTEMENT ACCES DIRECT
Le département de physique
Le Laboratoire de Physique de l’ENS 