Dr. Natasha Blitvic

Combinatorics and probability @ Lancaster University

Natasha Blitvic

Permutations, moments and measures

Take your favorite integer sequence. Is this sequence a sequence of moments of some probability measure on the real line? We will look at a number of interesting examples (some proven, others merely conjectured) of moment sequences in combinatorics. We will consider ways in which this positivity may be expected (or surprising!), the methods of proving it, and the consequences of having it. The problems we will consider will be very simple to formulate, but will take us up to the very edge of current knowledge in combinatorics, ‘classical’ probability, and noncommutative probability.