Related papers: Complex Systems: a Physicist's Viewpoint
If a concept is not well defined, there are grounds for its abuse. This is particularly true of complexity, an inherently interdisciplinary concept that has penetrated very different fields of intellectual activity from physics to…
Reaction systems are discrete dynamical systems inspired by bio-chemical processes, whose dynamical behaviour is expressed by set-theoretic operations on finite sets. Reaction systems thus provide a description of bio-chemical phenomena…
Since I first became enthralled with physics as a teenager, I've been intrigued by the philosophical aspects of the discipline. As I approached the end of my career as an experimental physicist and observational astronomer (I'm now…
Understanding realistic complex systems requires confronting significant conceptual, theoretical and experimental limitations rooted in the persistence of views that originated in the mechanics of simple moving bodies. We define the…
Basic problems in complex systems are surveyed in connection with Life. As a key issue for complex systems, complementarity between syntax/rule/parts and semantics/behavior/whole is stressed. To address the issue, a constructive approach…
This paper presents reflections on the validity of a series of mathematical methods and technical assumptions that are encrusted in macrophysics (related to gravitational interaction), that seem to have little or no physical significance.…
A set of general physical principles is proposed as the structural basis for the theory of complex systems. First the concept of harmony is analyzed and its different aspects are uncovered. Then the concept of reflection is defined and…
The notion of composite system made up of distinguishable parties is investigated in the context of arbitrary convex spaces.
Quantum nanosystems are exremely diverse and often very complicated. That is why new methods of a simple description of such systems ensuring the retention of essential part of information at small numbers of parameters are needed. We…
What is a complex network? How do we characterize complex networks? Which systems can be studied from a network approach? In this text, we motivate the use of complex networks to study and understand a broad panoply of systems, ranging from…
These lecture notes are an informal introduction to the theory of computational complexity and its links to quantum computing and statistical mechanics.
The aim of this text is to provide a linguistically accessible, but comprehensive introduction into a variety of topics in dynamical systems and its applications. Whilst preliminary knowledge of dynamical systems is useful, it is not…
We illustrate the general principle that complex analysis can be a good setting for posing problems that are best solved using techniques from other mathematical disciplines. Several examples are provided.
A qualitatively new, much more liberal and efficient organisation of science is proposed and justified, in connection with growing debate about further role and development of fundamental science. Although the key ideas can be explained…
The aim of this essay is to propose a conception of mathematics that is fully consonant with naturalism. By that I mean the hypothesis that everything that exists is part of the natural world, which makes up a unitary whole.
This chapter serves as an introduction to systems engineering focused on the broad issues surrounding realizing complex integrated systems. What is a system? We pose a number of possible definitions and perspectives, but leave open the…
Philosophy of science attempts to describe all parts of the scientific process in a general way in order to facilitate the description, execution and improvements of this process. So far, all proposed philosophies have only covered existing…
The complexity of quantum computation remains poorly understood. While physicists attempt to find ways to create quantum computers, we still do not have much evidence one way or the other as to how useful these machines will be. The tools…
We show that extremely simple systems of a not too large number of particles can be simultane- ously thermally stable and complex. To such an end, we extend the statistical complexity's notion to simple configurations of non-interacting…
Is the universe computable? If so, it may be much cheaper in terms of information requirements to compute all computable universes instead of just ours. I apply basic concepts of Kolmogorov complexity theory to the set of possible…