Date: Mon, December 3, 16:00-18:00 Place: Room Dw601, D Block, IIS, The University of Tokyo Invited Speaker: Dr. Ferdinand Peper (NiCT) Title: Asynchronous Systems and Brownian Computing Abstract: Asynchronous systems have attracted attention in recent years because of their suitability for implementations by nanotechnology. I will give a overview of our work on such systems, in particular on computation by asynchronous cellular automata and delay-insensitive circuits. Brownian computers are asynchronous systems in the most extreme sense. Though Brownian motion and noise are considered nuisances in most current-day computers, they can actually exploited, resulting in devices and circuits with decreased complexity. Key is the ability of Brownian motion to explore the state space in which a signal resides. This ability can be exploited to backtrack out of deadlock situations, as will be shown. The use of Brownian motion in circuits and computation may have potential for use in nanocomputers.