Free Probability
Conference on the occasion of Roland Speicher's 60th birthday
Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany
THE CONFERENCE HAS BEEN CANCELLED 
 (was: Mon 8 June - Fri 12 June, 2020)
Unfortunately, due to the current pandemic, we have to cancel the conference and postpone it to an indefinite date in the future.
Since its initiation in the 1980s by Voiculescu, free probability theory has always been expanding and today it is as timely as ever. It is linked to theoretical fields such as operator algebras, representation theory of groups and quantum information theory but also to more applied fields such as random matrix theory, wireless communications and various others. The common themes are noncommutativity of certain variables and the description of an asymptotical behaviour. The aim of the conference is to bring together leading experts in free probability theory in order to exchange recent developments, survey the broadness of the field and to explore new directions.
 We dedicate this conference to Roland Speicher on the occasion of his 60th birthday. We recall his vast contributions to free probability, such as his work on a combinatorial approach to freeness using cumulants and partitions of sets, free central limit theorems, universal products, R-diagonal operators, second order freeness, operator-valued free probability, free Brownian motion, q-Gaussians, Boolean convolution, fourth moment theorems and de Finetti theorems, just to name a few.
 Undoubtedly, Roland Speicher has been one of the founding fathers of free probability theory, he has always been a central player in the development, broadening and community building of the field and he is still one of the key figures in the domain.
 With this conference, we intend to express our appreciation for Speicher's life long efforts for the field and we aim at contributing to a continuation of his personal work on free probability as well as to keep his spirit alive that free probability should be open to influences and interactions with many other fields.
  
Organizers
- Michael Brannan (Texas A&M)
 - James Mingo (Queen's U, Kingston, Canada)
 - Jonathan Novak (U California, San Diego)
 - Dan-Virgil Voiculescu (U California, Berkeley)
 - Moritz Weber (Saarland U, Saarbrücken, Germany)
 
Registration
If you want to participate in the conference, please send an email to Moritz Weber.
 There is limited financial funding available in exceptional cases. For speakers, accommodation will be covered.
 There is no registration fee. Below are some  information on hotels.
Participants
        ° speaker         * to be confirmed
 Michael Anshelevich °
 Octavio Arizmendi Echegaray °
 Benson Au
 Marwa Banna
 Serban Belinschi °
 Hari Bercovici °
 Philippe Biane °
 Marek Bozejko °
 Michael Brannan
 Guillaume Cebron
 Adrian Celestino Rodriguez
 Benoit Collins °
 Ken Dykema °
 Kurusch Ebrahimi-Fard
 Wiktor Ejsmont
 Uwe Franz
 Daniel Gromada
 Brian Hall
 Michael Hartz
 Ching Wei Ho
 Johannes Hoffmann
 David Jekel
 Georgios Katsimpas
 Todd Kemp °
 Claus Köstler °
 Burkhard Kümmerer °
 Franz Lehner
 Felix Leid
 Weihua Liu *
 Laura Maaßen
 Tobias Mai °
 Camille Male
 Alexander Mang
 James Mingo °
 Peter Neu
 Alexandru Nica °
 Jonathan Novak
 Daniel Perales Anaya
 Gilles Pisier °*
 David Renfrew
 Christophe Reutenauer °
 Simon Schmidt
 Michael Schürmann °
 Dimitri Shlyakhtenko °
 Michael Skeide °
 Paul Skoufranis
 Piotr Sniady °
 Roland Speicher
 Kamil Szpojankowski
 Pierre Tarrago °
 Carlos Vargas Obieta °
 Monika Varso
 Philipp Varso
 Yoshimichi Ueda
 Dan-Virgil Voiculescu °
 Jonas Wahl
 Wilhelm von Waldenfels °
 Simeng Wang
 Moritz Weber
 Sheng Yin
Schedule and venue
The conference begins on Monday (8 June) morning and ends on Friday (12 June) afternoon.
 The conference dinner on Friday evening will be dedicated to Roland Speicher's birthday.
 The talks take place at the Faculty of Mathematics, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, buildings E2 2, E2 4 and E2 5, here is a map (PDF).
Travel information
Saarbruecken has its own airport, but it is very small. The best option for a flight destination is Frankfurt Airport. You should then take a (direct) train to Saarbrücken (about 2 hours). Alternatively, you can fly to Luxemburg (and then take a bus, 1 hour) or to Paris (and then take a non-direct train, 2-3 hours).
 Feel free to contact us if you need help when booking a hotel. We have blocked a number of rooms in the following hotels:
Hotel Madeleine (city center, 71 Euro, includes breakfast)
Hotel Stadt Hamburg (city center, 77 Euro per night, includes breakfast)
Domicil Leidinger (city center, 82 Euro per night, includes breakfast (best breakfast in town))
Hermann-Neuberger-Sportschule (Saar FV) (on campus, some kind of students dorm, 41 Euro per night, includes breakfast)
Landessportverband (on campus, some kind of students dorm, 41 Euro per night, includes breakfast)
 Other options:
Hotel Schlosskrug (close to the city center, lower prized)
Motel One (city center, 89 Euro plus 11,50 for the breakfast)
 For more detailed information (such as on busses in Saarbrücken), see the page information for visitors.
Postal address
Saarland University
 Department of Mathematics
 Postfach 15 11 50
 66041 Saarbrücken
 Germany
Visitors
Saarland University
 Campus building E 2 4
 66123 Saarbrücken
 Germany