Overview
The conference Unifying concepts in glass physics V will be held at the Institut Henri Poincare in Paris during December 12-16 2011. The series «Unifying concepts in glass physics» was initiated with a meeting in 1999 at the Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste.
The motivation for the meeting was the feeling that the ongoing research activity, focused around the study of the structural glass transition in liquids at low temperatures and the theory of spin glasses, had lead to an increased appreciation of several universal aspects of glassy systems. Thus, it was felt desirable to bring together researchers conducting (mainly) theoretical and computational investigations on different aspects of glassy systems, in the hope of promoting an exchange of ideas on recent developments, and explore interactions between different approaches that may play a key role to address outstanding problems.
The subsequent editions were held in Rome in 2002, Bangalore 2004 and Kyoto 2008. Along the years the conference confirmed as a workshop that attract researchers conducting theoretical and computational investigations on different aspects of glassiness in variate physical systems and with different approaches. It promotes the exchange of ideas and cross-fertilization between different fields and explores interactions between different approaches that may play a key role to address outstanding problems. In the meanwhile, the field of glassy physics has constantly progressed: the theory of Dynamical Heterogeneities and Glassy Correlation Lengths has provided new perspectives and results in the field of supercooled liquids; progress has been achieved in the comprehension of Quantum Glassy Phenomena; finally, glassiness was discovered in Information Theoretical systems such as Error Correction Codes and Satisfiability problems.
Continuing the spirit of the previous editions, the focus of the conference will be put on universal aspects in the behavior of glassy systems. The program will include traditional themes of the series such as the physics of Supercooled Liquids and Structural Glasses, Spin Glasses and Disordered Systems, as well as new interdisciplinary themes that have emerged in the last years as Jamming in Colloidal and Granular Systems, Quantum Glasses and Disordered Systems and Glassiness in Information Theory and Computer Science.
This conference will be preceded by a French-Japanese colloquium «Jamming, Glasses and phase transitions» organized at IHP by F. Krzakala (ESPCI), M. Picco (LPTHE Jussieu) and F. Zamponi (LPT ENS) on dates 7-10 December 2011.
