2nd Latin American School and Workshop on Polynomial Systems

        The theoretical study of the solution set of polynomial equations gave  rise to classical areas in mathematics, such as Algebra or Algebraic Geometry. Polynomial systems arising from practical or industrial applications require a much finer study of the system structure than  what is available from classical tools.
 
        This conference is interdisciplinary due to the nature of its object. The analysis of equation structure involves, besides Algebraic Geometry, concepts of Convex Geometry, Symplectic Geometry, Complexity, Numerical Analysis, etc.. In addition, efficient algorithms to solve systems of  polynomial equations combine tools and concepts of Computational Algebra, Computational Algebraic Geometry, Differential Geometry, Linear Programming, Sparse Numerical Linear Algebra, Combinatorics, etc..
 
    Applications of polynomial systems arise in many areas, such as mechanical engineering, chemistry and bio-chemistry, control theory, computer graphics, mathematical physics. Special attention here will be given to applications to statistics.
 

        The school is intended for a public ranging from first year graduate students in mathematics to research scientists. There will be a short course and five survey lectures during the morning.
 
        The scientific program is intended for specialists in the subject, or  researchers and students wishing to enter the subject.

    The five lectures offer an introduction to algebraic methods in  statistics. Many statistical models for discrete data, in particular those used in machine learning and computational biology, can be regarded as algebraic varieties inside a high-dimensional probability simplex. While some of these models correspond to classical geometric objects (e.g. Segre varieties and their secant varieties), others pose new and unexpected challenges for algebraic geometers. Conversely,     computational algebraic geometry has a lot to offer for statistical analysis since certain key problems, such as computing maximum likelihood estimates and checking identifiability, lead to systems of polynomial equations.

There will also be invited (to be announced soon) and contributed talks. The deadline for submissions is October 31, 2004.

    Participants are supposed to cover their own expenses. We are working on obtaining support for students and researchers from  Brasil  and from the Mercosul community.

    The meeting will be held at the Portogalo Suíte Hotel, Estrada Rio Santos km 71, Angra dos Reis, RJ, Brasil. (Distance to Rio de Janeiro: 130 km. Distance to Angra dos Reis: 15km).
 

    The first Latin American School and Workshop on Polynomial Systems was held in Buenos Aires, from 14 to 26 of july 2003, with approximately 70  registered participants.