Nonlinear Dynamics, Chaos and Complex Systems: A historical perspective
DIPC Seminars
- Speaker
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Miguel A. F. Sanjuán, Nonlinear Dynamics, Chaos and Complex Systems Group Departamento de Física, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
- When
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2019/02/01
13:00 - Place
- Donostia International Physics Center
- Add to calendar
-
iCal
When we talk about dynamics, we do not only understand the motion of celestial
bodies and solid mechanical systems, but any changes with respect to time of
one or more variables. From that point of view, we can find dynamics
everywhere, in any field of science. Thus, now we have a more general vision,
including stock market movements and economic variables, concentration changes
in chemical reactions, changes in physiological, biological and medical
variables, action potentials of neurons, etc ... providing a more
interdisciplinary perspective.
The various interactions between the constituent parts of a physical system
and their feedback mechanisms, are a source of nonlinearity and complexity,
which added to the sensitivity dependence to initial conditions which is a
hallmark of chaotic behavior, constitutes a change of perspective in dynamical
systems with important consequences for the understanding of science.
I will give a historical perspective of Nonlinear Dynamics, Chaos Theory and
Complex Systems, including some of the different sources that have contributed
to the construction of the discipline as we know it today. Among them, the
three-body problem in celestial mechanics, turbulence in fluid dynamics,
irreversibility and fundamentals of statistical physics and the logistic map
and population dynamics in biology. Many schools of mathematics and physics
have played an essential role in the historical development of the subject,
including the French, Russian, Japanese and American school. The knowledge of
this historical perspective allows us to understand the breadth of the
discipline itself and the multiple interdisciplinary applications to various
fields of science.
Host: Ricardo Diez Muino