From Hamiltonian Chaos to Complex Systems: A Nonlinear Physics Approach collects contributions on recent developments in non-linear dynamics and statistical physics with an emphasis on complex systems. This book provides a wide range of state-of-the-art research in these fields. The unifying aspect of this book is demonstration of how similar tools coming from dynamical systems, nonlinear physics, and statistical dynamics can lead to a large panorama of research in various fields of physics and beyond, most notably with the perspective of application in complex systems.

Chaos: from simple models to complex systems aims to guide science and engineering students through chaos and nonlinear dynamics from classical examples to the most recent fields of research. The first part, intended for undergraduate and graduate students, is a gentle and self-contained introduction to the concepts and main tools for the characterization of deterministic chaotic systems, with emphasis to statistical approaches. The second part can be used as a reference by researchers as it focuses on more advanced topics including the characterization of chaos with tools of information theory and applications encompassing fluid and celestial mechanics, chemistry and biology. The book is novel in devoting attention to a few topics often overlooked in introductory textbooks and which are usually found only in advanced surveys such as: information and algorithmic complexity theory applied to chaos and generalization of Lyapunov exponents to account for spatiotemporal and non-infinitesimal perturbations. The selection of topics, numerous illustrations, exercises and proposals for computer experiments make the book ideal for both introductory and advanced courses. Sample Chapter(s). Introduction (164 KB). Chapter 1: First Encounter with Chaos (1,323 KB). Contents: First Encounter with Chaos; The Language of Dynamical Systems; Examples of Chaotic Behaviors; Probabilistic Approach to Chaos; Characterization of Chaotic Dynamical Systems; From Order to Chaos in Dissipative Systems; Chaos in Hamiltonian Systems; Chaos and Information Theory; Coarse-Grained Information and Large Scale Predictability; Chaos in Numerical and Laboratory Experiments; Chaos in Low Dimensional Systems; Spatiotemporal Chaos; Turbulence as a Dynamical System Problem; Chaos and Statistical Mechanics: Fermi-Pasta-Ulam a Case Study. Readership: Students and researchers in science (physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology) and engineering.

This book aims to familiarize the reader with the essential properties of the chaotic dynamics of Hamiltonian systems by avoiding specialized mathematical tools, thus making it easily accessible to a broader audience of researchers and students. Unique material on the most intriguing and fascinating topics of unsolved and current problems in contemporary chaos theory is presented. The coverage includes: separatrix chaos; properties and a description of systems with non-ergodic dynamics; the distribution of Poincar(r) recurrences and their role in transport theory; dynamical models of the MaxwellOCOs Demon, the occurrence of persistent fluctuations, and a detailed discussion of their role in the problem underlying the foundation of statistical physics; the emergence of stochastic webs in phase space and their link to space tiling with periodic (crystal type) and aperiodic (quasi-crystal type) symmetries. This second edition expands on pseudochaotic dynamics with weak mixing and the new phenomenon of fractional kinetics, which is crucial to the transport properties of chaotic motion. The book is ideally suited to all those who are actively working on the problems of dynamical chaos as well as to those looking for new inspiration in this area. It introduces the physicist to the world of Hamiltonian chaos and the mathematician to actual physical problems.The material can also be used by graduate students."

This book explores modern developments in Hamiltonian dynamical systems, focusing on high degree-of-freedom systems and the transitional regimes between regular and chaotic motion. Includes end-of-chapter exercises and challenging problems.

Galileo Unbound traces the journey that brought us from Galileo's law of free fall to today's geneticists measuring evolutionary drift, entangled quantum particles moving among many worlds, and our lives as trajectories traversing a health space with thousands of dimensions. Remarkably, common themes persist that predict the evolution of species as readily as the orbits of planets or the collapse of stars into black holes. This book tells the history of spaces of expanding dimension and increasing abstraction and how they continue today to give new insight into the physics of complex systems. Galileo published the first modern law of motion, the Law of Fall, that was ideal and simple, laying the foundation upon which Newton built the first theory of dynamics. Early in the twentieth century, geometry became the cause of motion rather than the result when Einstein envisioned the fabric of space-time warped by mass and energy, forcing light rays to bend past the Sun. Possibly more radical was Feynman's dilemma of quantum particles taking all paths at once — setting the stage for the modern fields of quantum field theory and quantum computing. Yet as concepts of motion have evolved, one thing has remained constant, the need to track ever more complex changes and to capture their essence, to find patterns in the chaos as we try to predict and control our world.

This books gives a realistic contemporary image of Hamiltonian dynamics, dealing with the basic principles of the Hamiltonian theory of chaos in addition to very recent and unusual applications of nonlinear dynamics and the fractality of dynamics.

This book aims to provide the readers with a wide panorama of different aspects related to Chaos, Complexity and Transport. It consists of a collection of contributions ranging from applied mathematics to experiments, presented during the CCT'07 conference (Marseilles, June 4-8, 2007). The book encompasses different traditional fields of physics and mathematics while trying to keep a common language among the fields, and targets a nonspecialized audience.