Chaos, order and complexity in today’s physics
Year: 1981
Authors: Arecchi F.T.
Autors Affiliation: Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Largo E. Fermi 6, 50125 Firenze, Italy
Department of Physics, University of Firenze, 50125 Firenze, Italy
Abstract: Recent investigations on the physics of macroscopic nonequilibrium systems have shown a collective behaviour not deducible from two-body elementary interactions (as in Newton mechanics). This behaviour has a character of complexity, that is, it differsboth from the order of elementary systems as the pendulum or the two-body interaction, and from choas of the thermodynamic equilibrium state where maximum entropy has been reached. The implication are numerous, from fluid turbulence to cosmology, to biophysics, to the same foundations of physics. Indeed the physics of complexity has led to reconsiderations of the time irreversibility and of the current formulation of quantum mechanics. Here we give a critical analysis of this problem, including many examples taken from the current investigation.
Journal/Review:
Volume: VI (2) Pages from: 127 to: 143
KeyWords: chaos