Syllabus for |
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| FFR150 - Chaos and disorder: Dynamics in complex systems |
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| Owner: FCMAS |
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3,0 Credits (ECTS 4,5) |
| Grading: TH - Five, Four, Three, Not passed |
| Level: C |
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Department: 16 - PHYSICS
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Teaching language: English
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Credit distribution |
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Examination dates |
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Sp1 |
Sp2 |
Sp3 |
Sp4 |
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No Sp |
| 0101 |
Oral examination |
3,0 c |
Grading: TH |
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3,0 c
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In programs
TTFYA ENGINEERING PHYSICS, Year 4 (elective)
FCMAS MSc PROGRAMME IN COMPLEX ADAPTIVE SYSTEMS, Year 1 (elective)
Examiner:
Professor
Bernhard Mehlig
Eligibility:
For single subject courses within Chalmers programmes the same eligibility requirements apply, as to the programme(s) that the course is part of.
Aim
The course provides an introduction to stochastic models of complex systems.
Content
Course home page
The course provides an introduction to stochastic models of complex systems.
What are complex systems? Many systems observed in the world around us exhibit apparently irregular fluctuations. Examples are the density variations of inertial particles moving in turbulent fluids, cross-section fluctuations in the photodissociation of large molecules, but also the apparently random patterns of genetic variation in the human genome.
The cause of the apparently random fluctuations is the same in all cases: irregular dynamics. It may be a consequence of disorder,it may arise dynamically, it may be due to the interaction of a large (but finite) number of individuals (as in the evolution of the human genome), or may be a consequence of the interaction of many constituents (gas molecules forming a turbulent fluid). These examples have in common that the number of degrees of freedom exceeds the number of conservation laws. This makes the corresponding systems
complex , and requires stochastic methods to describe the empirically observed fluctuations.
Organisation
The course will consist of 10-16 2h lectures introducing the mathematical methods and computational tools.
Literature
1. Bernhard Mehlig,
Chaos and Disorder: Dynamics of Complex Systems, Lecture Notes, Freiburg (1999).
2. N. G. van Kampen,
Stochastic processes in physics and chemistry, 2nd edition, North-Holland (1992).
3. O. Bohigas,
Random matrices and chaotic dynamics, in: Chaos and Quantum Physics, eds: G. J. Giannoni, A. Voros and J. Zinn-Justin, North-Holland (1991).
Examination
Two examples sheets and oral examination.