Complex Systems
Alfred Hubler – experimental Physics
Graduates 1-2 grad students year, modest funding of ~$100k/year (MCC,
GK12 grant, conference grants)
Karin Dahmen – theoretical Physics
Richard Weaver – experimental Physics
Alex Scheeline – experimental Chemistry
Complex system:
A system with a large throughput of
- a fluid: turbulence, river networks, traffic
- chemicals: flames & explosion
- tension: fracture
- electrical current: lightning, dielectric breakthrough, agglomeration
- heat: segregation, convection
- information: internet, social networks, reaction networks
-…
Key control parameters: Astro Physics – large distances, Quantum Mechanics
– low temperature, Condensed Matter Physics – high density, Particle Physics –
high energy density, …, Complex System Physics– large throughput.
The throughput is considered large, if there is a “sudden
appearance of a pattern or dynamics (self-organization)” in the
limiting state (equilibrated state - ignore transients).
This self-organization causes emergent properties.
Emergent patterns: specific research objective - predict & control
network growth & decay in a ‘reproducable’ lab experiment
Particles under the influence of a highvoltage electric current: Will this initial
configuration produce a spiral?
Emergent patterns: specific research objective - predict & control
network growth & decay in a ‘reproducable’ lab experiment
No, spirals are unstable.
Emergent patterns:
- substructure (stem, branch, sub-branch, …)
- different relationships of component to collective
behavior (termini, branching points, trunks)
- the relationship of internal behavior to external
influence (graph structure versus minimum resistance,
controls, …)
- multiscale structure and dynamics (fractal dimension
= 1.67)
Emergent patterns: comparison of graph-theoretical models to experiments
The number of termini and branching points for three models,
Minimum Spaning Tree (MST), Random Growth (RAN),
Propagation Front (PFM) and the natural experiments.
MST produces the closest match with experiments.
The number of trees is not an emergent property
J. Jun, A. Hubler, PNAS 102, 536 (2005)
Emergent dynamics: Experimental evidence
of mixed reality states in physical systems
Objective: Understand synchronization between virtual and real systems.
Approach:
- Couple a real dynamical system to its virtual counterpart with an instantaneous
bi-direction coupling (so far: non-linear pendulum, future: network).
- Measure an order parameter of the real and the virtual systems and then detect
synchronization.
Emergent dynamics: Mixed reality states in
physical systems, why are they important?
- Virtual systems match their real counter parts with ever-increasing
accuracy, because of the increasing speed of computers.
- New hardware for instantaneous bi-directional coupling.
- In mixed reality states there is no clear boundary between the real
and the virtual system. Mixed reality states can be used to analyze
and control the real systems with high precision – a new way to do
resonance spectroscopy.
Publication: The paper “First experimental evidence for
mixed reality states in an inter-reality system" by Vadas
Gintautas and Alfred Hubler, in
Phys. Rev. E 75, 057201 (2007),
Was discussed in monthly APS News Letter twice, was
topic of APS press conference, and selected for the APS
tip sheet: http://www.aps.org/about/tipsheets/tip68.cfm
Photo: A. Hubler and V. Gintautas at the inter-reality system
Current research topics:
- Adaptation to the Edge of Chaos – self-adjusting chemical reactions & video feedback, Tim
Wotherspoon (G), Alex Scheeline - experimental
- Current Induced Superconducivity – percolation clusters of superconducting fluctuations,
Peter Fleck (G) - experimental
- Attractor Structure of Dissipative Wave-Particle Systems – particle swarms surfing and
breaking waves, Davit Sivil (G) – experimental & theoretical
- Fractal Absorbers for Energy-Efficient Desalination – Martin Singleton (G) - both
- Resonance Curves of Chaotic Systems – Glenn Foster (G, graduated 2008), Xian Xu (G,
graduated 2007), K. Dahmen – theoretical & numerical
- Mixed Reality – Vadas Gintautas (G, graduated 2008), Vishal Soni (UG) - experimental
- Prediction & Control of Network Growth – Rotoban Basu Thakur (G, new) - experimental
- Digital Batteries - nano-capacitors, Onyeama Osuagwu (G, m new) – theoretical & exp.
- Wind Power to Electrical Power without Moving Parts – imitate thunderstorms, Matthias
Gempel (G, exchange student) - experimental
- Single Precision Finite Element Methods for Terra Computers – Nathan Pollard (UG, m)
- Discrete Models, More Accurate Than Time Continuous Models – chaotic water wheel,
Natasha Sachdeva (UG, m) – theoretical & numerical
- Roughness Phase Transition – dynamical impact of sharp mirrors, Vadas Gintautas, LANL-t
- Energy/Information/Energy Transformation, Jim Brown, UNM Albuquerque - t
- Digital Wires – nano-structured wires, Benny Brown, UC Davis - experimental
A. H. Group activities since January 2007:
11/10/2008 - 11/13/2008 Invited talk at Nanotechnology Conference, Amman, Jordan
11/7/2008 - 11/9/2008 Invited to the Business Network and Board of Trustees’
Symposium of the Santa Fe Institute, NM.
10/15/2008 - 10/17/2008 Invited talk at 3rd Network Science Workshop, United States
Military Academy, Westpoint, NY.
9/12/2008 T. Wotherspoon and A. Hubler,"Adaption to the Edge of Chaos with
Random-Wavelet Feedback" is accepted by the Journal of Physical Chemistry
8/26/2008 Graduate student Glenn Foster defends his Ph.D. thesis successfully.
7/31/2008 - 8/1/2008 Invited talk at the MECS workshop at MITRE in Washington.
7/7/2008 V. Gintautas and A. Hubler, "Resonant forcing of nonlinear systems of
differential equations" is accepted by the AIP journal CHAOS
6/13/2008 Lecture to 50 Middle Schools students (GUTS program)
6/1/2008 - 6/30/2008 Labs at the Complex Systems Summer School of the Santa Fe
Institute
5/12/2008 Presentation on mixed reality at UCS2008
5/12/2008-5/15/2008 Chair UCS2008 at UIUC, >100 presentation
5/10/2008 Graduate student Vadas Gintautas defends his Ph.D. thesis successfully.
4/4/2008 Editorial on mixed reality for Complexity
3/10/2008 Invited speaker at the APS press conference at 11AM in the press room in
the New Orleans Convention Center in room B2-2 at the APS March Meeting,
New Orleans, Louisiana
Group activities since January 2007, continued ….
2/15/2008 Joined the editorial board of Research Letters in Physics
2/1/2008 J. Xu, A. Hubler Detecting quasiperiodic structures with double diffraction.
Europhysics Letters 81, 16002 (2008).
1/3/2008-1/6/2008 Presentation at Dynamics Days 2008, Knoxville, TN
12/15/2007 A. Hubler Homeopathic Dynamical Systems, Complexity.
11/30/2007 Talk at Multicultural Youth Conference Talk with many lecture demos in
Loomis, UIUC
11/15/2008 V. Gintautas, G. Foster, and A. W. Hubler Resonant forcing of select degrees
of freedom of multidimensional chaotic map dynamics , J. Stat. Phys. 130 (3),
617-629 (2008)
10/28/2007-10/31/2007, ICCS 2007, Boston. Invited overview talk for the opening
session.
10/31/2007-11/4/2007, Invited to Annual Business Network and Board of Trustees'
Symposium of the Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM.
10/22/2007-10/25/2007 Invited talk at Network Science Workshop, West Point, NY.
10/11/2007-10/13/2007 Invited to Wolfram Technology Conference 2007.
9/24/2007-9/27/2007 Invited talk at International Conference on Applications in
Nonlinear Dynamics, organized by ONR, held at Poipu Beach, Hawaii.
9/1/2008 W C. Strelioff, J. Crutchfield, A. Hubler k-th Order Markov Chains: Bayesian
Inference, Model Comparison, Entropy Rate, and Out-of-class Modeling.
Phys. Rev. E 76, 011106 (2007).
Group activities since January 2007, continued ….
7/15/2007 A. Hubler and K. C. Phelps Guiding a self-adjusting system through chaos.
Complexity ,13(2) 10 (2007).
7/13/2007-7/15/2007 NKS 2007 conference, Burlington, VT, invited talk
6/1/2007-/6/30/2007 Complex Systems Summer School 2007, 2 lectures and 13 labs
5/20/2007 A. Hubler Understanding Complex Systems: Defining an abstract concept.
Complexity 12(5), 5-9(2007).
4/20/2007 A. Gerig and A. Hubler Chaos in a one-dimensional compressible flow. Phys.
Rev. E 75, 045202 (2007).
5/15/2008-5/18/2007 Chair UCS2007 at UIUC, >100 presentation
4/1/2007 V. Gintautas and A. Hubler Experimental evidence for mixed reality states in
an interreality system. Phys. Rev. E 75, 057201 (2007).
2/21/2007 Invited talk APS March meeting in Denver, CO.
3/1/2007 A. Hubler, G. Foster and K. C. Phelps Managing chaos: Thinking out of the
box. Complexity 12(3), 10-13 (2007).
2/22/2007-2/25/2007 Coordination Dynamics, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton.
2/1/2007 M. S. Singleton and A. Hubler Learning rate and attractor size of the singlelayer perceptron. Phys. Rev. E 75, 026704 (2007).
1/15/2007 G. Foster, A. Hubler, and K. Dahmen Resonant forcing of multidimensional
chaotic map dynamics. Phys. Rev. E 75, 036212 (2007).
1/11/2007-1/12/2007 Complex Systems Engineering, RAND Corporation, St. Monica.
1/3/2007-1/6/2007 Dynamics Days 2007, Boston University, Boston, MA .
And then there is our work on e-learning ...
And then there is our work on e-learning ...
… strengthening the reasoning skills;
… parsing free response.
http://server10.how-why.com/blog/ 
Conclusion
Complex Systems @ illinois has a leadership role:
- Many publication in A-level journals;
- Annual conference at the UIUC Physics department with
more than 100 presentations;
- Editorial office of Wiley journal Complexity, the leading
journal in the field;
- APS monthly News Letter, APS press conference;
- High-risk high-payoff projects: strong public interest;
- Ethnically diverse group, successful Ph.D.s.
Future: - Have more NSF funds flow in our direction.
‘Complex Systems’ is overused -> be more specific.
- Better internal networking.
Thank you!