Dear All, Next week, on Friday the 1st of August, Laurie Field (Chicago) will be talking at 4pm at USyd, Carslaw 273, on Conformally invariant processes and the Schramm-Loewner evolution (SLE)" Abstract: Scaling limits of planar statistical mechanics models at the critical temperature tend to be invariant under conformal transformations. The limits of interfaces in these models are then random, conformally invariant, non-crossing, fractal curves. The abundance of conformal symmetry in two dimensions allows a complete description of the limiting curves, called SLE, which can be analysed using simple stochastic differential equations. I will give an introduction to the world of planar statistical mechanics, conformal invariance and SLE. I will also present some recent results relating SLE to Brownian loops, estimating escape probabilities, and comparing pinned and unpinned variants of SLE. This is based on joint work with Greg Lawler. Hope to see you all there, Georg