No Arabic abstract
We introduce a notion of emergence for coarse-grained macroscopic variables associated with highly-multivariate microscopic dynamical processes, in the context of a coupled dynamical environment. Dynamical independence instantiates the intuition of an emergent macroscopic process as one possessing the characteristics of a dynamical system in its own right, with its own dynamical laws distinct from those of the underlying microscopic dynamics. We quantify (departure from) dynamical independence by a transformation-invariant Shannon information-based measure of dynamical dependence. We emphasise the data-driven discovery of dynamically-independent macroscopic variables, and introduce the idea of a multiscale emergence portrait for complex systems. We show how dynamical dependence may be computed explicitly for linear systems via state-space modelling, in both time and frequency domains, facilitating discovery of emergent phenomena at all spatiotemporal scales. We discuss application of the state-space operationalisation to inference of the emergence portrait for neural systems from neurophysiological time-series data. We also examine dynamical independence for discrete- and continuous-time deterministic dynamics, with potential application to Hamiltonian mechanics and classical complex systems such as flocking and cellular automata.
An thorough introduction is given at an introductory level to the field of quantitative complex system science, with special emphasis on emergence in dynamical systems based on network topologies. Subjects treated include graph theory and small-world networks, a generic introduction to the concepts of dynamical system theory, random Boolean networks, cellular automata and self-organized criticality, the statistical modeling of Darwinian evolution, synchronization phenomena and an introduction to the theory of cognitive systems. It inludes chapter on Graph Theory and Small-World Networks, Chaos, Bifurcations and Diffusion, Complexity and Information Theory, Random Boolean Networks, Cellular Automata and Self-Organized Criticality, Darwinian evolution, Hypercycles and Game Theory, Synchronization Phenomena and Elements of Cognitive System Theory.
We investigate macroscopic dynamical quantum tunneling (MDQT) in the driven Duffing oscillator, charateristic for Josephson junction physics and nanomechanics. Under resonant conditions between stable coexisting states of such systems we calculate the tunneling rate. In macroscopic systems coupled to a heat bath, MDQT can be masked by driving-induced activation. We compare both processes, identify conditions under which tunneling can be detected with present day experimental means and suggest a protocol for its observation.
The integrity and functionality of many real-world complex systems hinge on a small set of pivotal nodes, or influencers. In different contexts, these influencers are defined as either structurally important nodes that maintain the connectivity of networks, or dynamically crucial units that can disproportionately impact certain dynamical processes. In practice, identification of the optimal set of influencers in a given system has profound implications in a variety of disciplines. In this review, we survey recent advances in the study of influencer identification developed from different perspectives, and present state-of-the-art solutions designed for different objectives. In particular, we first discuss the problem of finding the minimal number of nodes whose removal would breakdown the network (i.e., the optimal percolation or network dismantle problem), and then survey methods to locate the essential nodes that are capable of shaping global dynamics with either continuous (e.g., independent cascading models) or discontinuous phase transitions (e.g., threshold models). We conclude the review with a summary and an outlook.
A procedure to characterize chaotic dynamical systems with concepts of complex networks is pursued, in which a dynamical system is mapped onto a network. The nodes represent the regions of space visited by the system, while edges represent the transitions between these regions. Parameters used to quantify the properties of complex networks, including those related to higher order neighborhoods, are used in the analysis. The methodology is tested for the logistic map, focusing the onset of chaos and chaotic regimes. It is found that the corresponding networks show distinct features, which are associated to the particular type of dynamics that have generated them.
Many networks are important because they are substrates for dynamical systems, and their pattern of functional connectivity can itself be dynamic -- they can functionally reorganize, even if their underlying anatomical structure remains fixed. However, the recent rapid progress in discovering the community structure of networks has overwhelmingly focused on that constant anatomical connectivity. In this paper, we lay out the problem of discovering_functional communities_, and describe an approach to doing so. This method combines recent work on measuring information sharing across stochastic networks with an existing and successful community-discovery algorithm for weighted networks. We illustrate it with an application to a large biophysical model of the transition from beta to gamma rhythms in the hippocampus.