History

Topics and lectures of previous sessions

2021 - Statistical Mechanics and Emergent Phenomena in Biology

N. Brunel: Models of Memory in Networks of Neurons
A. Cavagna: Collective Behaviour in Biological Systems
S. Ganguli: Complex Neural Dynamics and High-Dimensional Data Analysis
F. van Wijland: Methods for Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics

2019 - Glasses, Jamming, and Slow Dynamics

L. Berthier: Glass transition and amorphous solids
A. Liu: The jamming transition and the marginally jammed state
E. Vanden-Eijnden: Stochastic dynamics, rare events and large deviations
F. Zamponi: Theory of the glass and jamming transitions in infinite dimensions

2018 - Deep Neural Networks and Statistical Physics

G. Ben Arous: Complexity of random landscapes
L. Bottou: Training Deep Networks with Stochastic Gradient Algorithms
J. Kurchan: Rugged phase-spaces and the dynamics within them
S. Mallat: Learning Physics with Multiscale Deep Neural Networks
M. Mézard: Statistical physics of inference
H. Sompolinsky: Statistical Mechanics of Deep Neural Networks

2017 - Out of Equilibrium Dynamics, Evolution and Genetics

L.F. Cugliandolo: Out of Equilibrium Dynamics of Complex Systems
D.S. Fisher: Evolutionary Dynamics of Large Populations
Y.V. Fyodorov: Counting Equilibria in Complex Systems via Random Matrices
D.R. Nelson: Population Genetics in Space and Time

2016 - Concepts and Methods of Statistical Physics

B. Derrida: Fisher KPP Equation and Applications
Y. Kafri: Statistics of Rare Events and Large Deviations
A. Montanari: Selected Topics in Machine Learning
S. Redner: Non-Equilibrium Statistical Physics
C. Wetterich: Non-Perturbative Renormalization Group

2015 - Statistical Physics, Biology, Inference and Networks

W. Bialek: Statistical Mechanics for Real Biological Networks
J.-P. Bouchaud: Random Matrix Theory and Big Data Cleaning
M. Lässig: Current Challenges in Statistical Genetics
C. Moore: Physics, Computation, Phase Transitions, and Networks
P. Vivo: Random Matrices - Theory and Practice

2014 - Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics and Active Matter

I. Giardina: Collective Behaviour in Animal Groups
C. Godrèche: Statistics of Persistence in Nonequilibrium Systems and Beyond
C. Jarzynski: Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics of Small Systems
J. Kurchan: Out of Equilibrium: Transient, Driven, Conditioned
S. Ramaswamy: Active Matter: Mechanics, Statistics, Hydrodynamics

2013 - Disordered Systems

B. Altshuler: Anderson Localization and Beyond
G. Ben Arous: Universal Features of Slow Dynamics in Random Media
S. Majumdar: Random Matrix Theory and its Applications
G. Parisi: Mean-Field theory of Glassy Systems and Beyond

2012 - Glass and Jamming Transitions

S. Nagel: Jamming and Granular Matter
G. Semerjian: Glassy Aspects of Optimization Problems
G. Szamel: Slow and Glassy Dynamics
G. Tarjus: An Overview of the Glass Transition

2011 - Statistical Physics and Complex Systems

J.-P. Bouchaud: Statistical Physics Approaches to Economics and Finance
P. Diaconis: The Mathematics of Mixing Things Up
M. Mézard: Information, Physics, and Computation
M. Vergassola: Statistical Physics for Biological Systems

2010 - Concepts and Methods of Statistical Mechanics

G. Biroli: Statistical Dynamics
J.-S. Caux: Integrable Models in Atomic and Condensed Matter Physics
B. Delamotte: Non-Perturbative Renormalization Group
W. Krauth: Statistical Mechanics: Algorithms and Computations

2009 - Quantum physics out of equilibrium

N. Andrei: Out of equilibrium quantum impurities and the Bethe Ansatz
L. F. Cugliandolo: Slow dynamics of quantum and classical systems
C. Kollath Quantum dynamics, cold atoms and numerical methods
A. J. Millis: Non-equilibrium impurity models and quantum phase transitions
O. Parcollet: Methods for quantum many body problems out of equilibrium

2008 - Manifolds in random media, random matrices and extreme value statistics

J.-P. Bouchaud: Rare events and extreme value statistics
P. Ferrari: Random matrices and related problems
P. Le Doussal: Pinning of elastic objects in random media
S. Majumdar: Extreme statistics for correlated variables

An atypical summer school

The Beg Rohu summer school was born in 1984, because of the passion of its organizer for both physics and sailing. These two worlds, which both require hard work, thinking and concentration, met on the peninsula of Quiberon where lectures on statistical mechanics were given during one month every summer. Along the years, the school acquired the nickname "Beg Rohu" because of its location at the French National Sailing School. This summer school took place until 1997.

All 14 sessions were organized by C. Godrèche. They were characterized by few unusual features which contributed to its popularity:

The greater strength of this school stemmed in the high scientific level and pedagogy of the lectures combined with the wonderful Gaelic character of the site of Beg Rohu and the possibility of learning and training in sailing during the afternoon.

The Beg Rohu school ended with the 1997 session and has been regretted by many people until now.

A new start

In 2007, G. Biroli and A. Lefévre decided to put the Beg Rohu school back to life, with the help of its creator C. Godrèche, and with a slightly changed format, including lectures in English and a duration of two weeks only. The first session took place in 2008, from the 16th to the 28th of June.

Scientific Committee

L. Cugliandolo, R. Monasson, M. Schiro and L. Zdeborova form the scientific committee of the school.