The Workshop will take place from September 22-25, 2026.
The program will begin on Tuesday morning and will end on Friday noon. We will have a reception on Tuesday and the conference dinner will take place on Thursday evening. Wednesday afternoon is free for discussion.
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Title: Phase transition in number of connected components of random lemniscates
Abstract: For a monic polynomial p of degree n, the t-lemniscate is defined as the sub-level set Λₚ(t) := {z ∈ ℂ : |p(z)| < t}. For t = 1, this is referred to as the unit lemniscate or simply lemniscate. The typical topological behavior for random lemniscates exhibits a fascinating dependence on the root distribution μ. In this work, we investigate two contrasting regimes:
Disk Model: For roots i.i.d. in 𝔻, the expected number of components grows sub-linearly as C√n (C ≈ 0.453).
Circle Model: For roots i.i.d. on S¹, the expected number of components is drastically higher, growing linearly at a rate of n/2.
We further characterize the topological phase transition as the level t evolves from 0 to ∞, identifying the critical thresholds where the lemniscate's connectivity undergoes a fundamental shift.
Title: Phase loss, overlap large deviations, and Fisher zeros of the spherical p-spin glass
Abstract: Fisher zeros of mean-field spin glasses have been studied in uncorrelated and hierarchically correlated models such as the REM, GREM, BBM, and CREM. I will discuss the spherical pure p-spin glass, where the central new feature is the presence of genuine non-hierarchical correlations and replica symmetry breaking.
The main mechanism is phase loss: the imaginary temperature creates overlap-dependent oscillatory cancellation, competing with the quenched large-deviation cost of realizing that overlap at real temperature. Combining the vector Crisanti–Sommers formula with a local phase-cancellation argument inside Subag’s geometric bands yields a variational description of the complex-temperature free energy with expectation, fluctuation, and glassy regimes.
Title: Counting real roots of characteristic polynomials in the real Ginibre ensembles
Abstract: A distinguishing feature of real non-Hermitian random matrices is presence of purely real eigenvalues with high probability. In this talk, we discuss the counting statistics for these real eigenvalues for the real Ginibre ensembles. In particular, we discuss its intermediate large deviation regime, which captures the asymptotic behavior bridging typical fluctuations and the large deviation regime characterized by the macroscopic deformation of the spectral droplet. This talk is based on joint work with Sung-Soo Byun, Gregory Schehr, and Jonas Jalowy.
Title: A Tale of Two Zeros: Classical Real-Rootedness and Modern Glassy Landscapes
Abstract: This talk explores the distribution of zeros in two distinct settings: deterministic entire functions and stochastic disordered systems. In both cases, zero locations encode structural properties -- analytic in the former, and thermodynamic in the latter.
Part I: The Geometry of Coefficients. We begin with the Laguerre--Pólya class of entire functions that serve as uniform limits of real-rooted polynomials. We present necessary conditions and sufficient conditions for real-rootedness in terms of the Taylor coefficients aₖ. Specifically, we characterise membership in this class via the second quotient sequence qₙ(f) := aₙ₋₁²/(aₙ₋₂aₙ). We show that the asymptotic behaviour of qₙ(f) determines whether f is real-rooted. We conclude by discussing operators that preserve real-rootedness. This is joint work with Anna Vishnyakova.
Part II: The Physics of Zero-Freeness. Motivated by Lee-Yang theory, we study the spherical Sherrington-Kirkpatrick (SSK) model at complex temperatures. We provide a rigorous derivation of the phase diagram conjectured by Obuchi & Takahashi (2012). Using eigenvalue rigidity and steepest descent analysis, we identify three distinct regimes in the complex β-plane: a high-temperature phase (|β| < 1/2), a glassy phase (|Re β| > 1/2), and a fluctuation phase (|β| > 1/2, |Re β| < 1/2) where Lee-Yang (Fisher) zeros of the partition function accumulate with constant density 2/π. We characterise the macroscopic zero density and prove that, in the fluctuation phase, the microscopic zero process converges in distribution to the zero set of a planar Gaussian analytic function. This is joint work with Anton Klimovsky.
Together, these results illustrate how zero distributions -- whether determined by coefficient constraints or statistical fluctuations -- encode structural information in both analysis and statistical physics.
Title: Zeros of Orthogonal Polynomials with Unbounded Recurrence Coefficients
Abstract: I will discuss the asymptotic distribution of zeros of orthogonal polynomials whose recurrence coefficients are unbounded and periodically modulated. In this setting, some zeros may escape to infinity, so the classical normalized zero counting measures are no longer the right object.
Under natural assumptions, we identify the correct scaling and prove convergence to an explicit infinite Radon measure. A key feature is that the limiting measure is determined by the essential spectrum of the underlying Jacobi matrix, giving a spectral description of zero distribution beyond the bounded-coefficient case.
The talk will be based on joint work with Bartosz Trojan: “Asymptotic zeros’ distribution of orthogonal polynomials with unbounded recurrence coefficients,” Journal of Functional Analysis 289 (2025), Article 111162.
Title: Characteristic polynomials of tensors via Grassmann integral and distributions of roots for random Gaussian tensors
Abstract: I will introduce a new notion of characteristic polynomials for tensors via Grassmann integrals and distributions of roots of random tensors. As anticipated, the Fuss-Catalan distribution appears. Some important points of our work are that there are only N roots for tensors of dimension N, and that our formulation covers general tensors (complex, real, Grassmann, etc) including totally antisymmetric tensors, but excluding totally symmetric tensors. It is based on arXiv:2510.04068[math-ph].
Title: Discriminants and cospectrality of random matrices
Abstract: Two symmetric integer matrices are cospectral if they share characteristic polynomial. Cospectrality is believed to be atypical in high-dimensional settings, but proving this remain a bit of a mystery.
I will discuss a notion where the potential orthogonal matrix realizing cospectrality is restricted to have rational entries. Sufficient conditions to rule out this type of cospectrality are available in terms of the prime factorization of the discriminant, the latter being an integer expressed as the product of squared distances between eigenvalues. Some progress on understanding how often such conditions are applicable was recently made by Nikita Lvov and myself in arXiv:2603.26932. I will discuss the probabilistic methods that we developed and the conjectures they lead one to.
Title: Polynomials interpolated totally positive sequences
Abstract: Definition.
A sequence of nonnegative numbers (aₖ)ₖ₌₀^∞ is called a totally positive sequence, if all minors of the infinite matrix
\begin{array}{ccccc}
a_0 & a_1 & a_2 & a_3 &\ldots \\
0 & a_0 & a_1 & a_2 &\ldots \\
0 & 0 & a_0 & a_1 &\ldots \\
0 & 0 & 0 & a_0 &\ldots \\
\vdots&\vdots&\vdots&\vdots&\ddots
\end{array}
are non-negative.
Concept of total positivity found numerous applications and was studied from many different sides. It has applications in distribution of zeros of polynomials and entire functions, Pólya frequency sequences, unimodality and log-concavity, stochastic processes and approximation theory, mechanical systems, planar networks, combinatorics and representation theory.
Let P, P(0) > 0, be a real polynomial of degree m. It is easy to check that
∑ₖ₌₀^∞ P(k)xᵏ = Q(x)/(1 − x)ᵐ⁺¹,
where Q is a real polynomial of degree at most m.
We will discuss the following problem: for which P the sequence (P(k))ₖ₌₀^∞ is totally positive? Due to the famous theorem by Aissen, Schoenberg, Whitney and Edrei it happens if and only if all the zeros of Q are real and non-positive.
We also consider the sequences of the form
((1 − c₁qᵏ)(1 − c₂qᵏ) · … · (1 − cₘqᵏ))ₖ₌₀^∞,
where 0 < q < 1. We investigate the following problem: for which values of parameters such sequences are totally positive.
Title: Asymptotics of biorthogonal polynomials and the Hermitian random matrix model with external source
Abstract: We consider the biorthogonal polynomials pₙ, qₙ subject to the orthogonality
∫ pₘ(x) qₙ(f(x)) W(x) dx = δₘ,ₙ hₘ.
They are generalizations of orthogonal polynomials, with f(x) = x being the special case. If f(x) = xᶿ, these biorthogonal polynomials are related to the Muttalib-Borodin ensemble. We show that the asymptotics of the biorthogonal polynomials with f(x) = x² can be used to study the local statistics of the eigenvalues of the Hermitian random matrix model with external source. In the case where the potential of the random matrix model is V(x) = x⁴/4 − tx²/2 and the external source has two distinct eigenvalues ±a of equal multiplicities, we find a new family of limiting correlation kernels that are constructed from solutions of the Riemann-Hilbert problem associated with the Boussinesq hierarchy. This talk is based on arXiv:2512.20343 and is joint work with Shui-Xia Xu.
Title: Polynomial convolutions and derivative type ensembles
Abstract: I will explain how the average characteristic polynomials of derivative type ensembles (de)compose naturally under certain polynomial convolutions. Derivative type ensembles were originally introduced because they provided the natural framework to describe the eigenvalues of sums and products of random matrices. In those settings, the relevant polynomial convolutions are the finite free additive and multiplicative convolution. Our framework goes beyond and leads to a variety of polynomial convolutions, including those compatible with discrete grids.