This third edition of Statistical Physics of Complex Systems has been expanded to provide more examples of applications of concepts and methods from statistical physics to the modeling of complex systems. These include avalanche dynamics in materials, models of social agents like road traffic or wealth repartition, the real space aspects of biological evolution dynamics, propagation phenomena on complex networks, formal neural networks and their connection to constraint satisfaction proble...

This course-tested primer provides graduate students and non-specialists with a basic understanding of the concepts and methods of statistical physics and demonstrates their wide range of applications to interdisciplinary topics in the field of complex system sciences, including selected aspects of theoretical modeling in biology and the social sciences.Generally speaking, the goals of statistical physics may be summarized as follows: on the one hand to study systems composed of a ...

This concise primer (based on lectures given at summer schools on complex systems and on a masters degree course in complex systems modeling) will provide graduate students and newcomers to the field with the basic knowledge of the concepts and methods of statistical physics and its potential for application to interdisciplinary topics.Indeed, in recent years, statistical physics has begun to attract the interest of a broad community of researchers in the field of complex system sc...

Einstein said that the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible. But was he right? Can the quantum theory of fields and Einstein's general theory of relativity, the two most accurate and successful theories in all of physics, be united in a single quantum theory of gravity? Can quantum and cosmos ever be combined? On this issue, two of the world's most famous physicists--Stephen Hawking (A Brief History of Time) and Roger Penrose (The Emperor...

Striving to explore the subject in as simple a manner as possible, this book helps readers understand the elusive concept of entropy. Innovative aspects of the book include the construction of statistical entropy from desired properties, the derivation of the entropy of classical systems from purely classical assumptions, and a statistical thermodynamics approach to the ideal Fermi and ideal Bose gases. Derivations are worked through step-by-step and important applications are highlighted ...

Presenting the key principles of thermodynamics from a microscopic point of view, this book provides engineers with the knowledge they need to apply thermodynamics and solve engineering challenges at the molecular level. It clearly explains the concepts of entropy and free energy, emphasizing key ideas used in equilibrium applications, whilst stochastic processes, such as stochastic reaction kinetics, are also covered. It provides a classical microscopic interpretation of thermodynamic pro...

Space, time, matter - what really is all that? What are charges, what flavours? What is preventing time from running backwards? Quantum Gravity is describing all that - consisely, comprehensively, to the point. The Grand Unified Theory (GUT = ToE = "Theory of Everything"), finally, is caring for the rest by relating all forces of nature to each other.Parities are the peep-holes into strange worlds before the Big Bang and beyond the event horizon. Everything is calculable, even the ...

The purpose of this book is to thoroughly prepare the reader for research in string theory at an intermediate level. As such it is not a compendium of results but intended as textbook in the sense that most of the material is organized in a pedagogical and self-contained fashion.Beyond the basics, a number of more advanced topics are introduced, such as conformal field theory, superstrings and string dualities - the text does not cover applications to black hole physics and cosmolo...

Twenty-five years ago, Michael Green, John Schwarz, and Edward Witten wrote two volumes on string theory. Published during a period of rapid progress in this subject, these volumes were highly influential for a generation of students and researchers. Despite the immense progress that has been made in the field since then, the systematic exposition of the foundations of superstring theory presented in these volumes is just as relevant today as when first published. A self-contained introduc...

The book discusses new algorithms capable of searching for, tracking, mapping and providing a visualization of invisible substances. It reports on the realization of a bacterium-inspired robotic controller that can be used by an agent to search for any environmental spatial function such as temperature or pollution. Using the parameters of a mathematical model, the book shows that it is possible to control the exploration, exploitation and sensitivity of the agent. This feature sets the wo...

The chapters in this book originate from the research work and contributions presented at the Sixth International Symposium on Recurrence Plots held in Grenoble, France in June 2015. Scientists from numerous disciplines gathered to exchange knowledge on recent applications and developments in recurrence plots and recurrence quantification analysis. This meeting was remarkable because of the obvious expansion of recurrence strategies (theory) and applications (practice) into ever-broadening...

This pioneering text provides a comprehensive introduction to systems structure, function, and modeling as applied in all fields of science and engineering. Systems understanding is increasingly recognized as a key to a more holistic education and greater problem solving skills, and is also reflected in the trend toward interdisciplinary approaches to research on complex phenomena. While the concepts and components of systems science will continue to be distributed throughout the various d...