Projects / Programmes
Phase transitions towards coordination in multilayer networks
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 1.02.02 |
Natural sciences and mathematics |
Physics |
Theoretical physics |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 1.03 |
Natural Sciences |
Physical sciences |
networks, phase transition, complex system, coordination, pattern formation, collective behavior
Researchers (13)
Organisations (4)
Abstract
Coordination is the organization of different elements of a complex system so as to enable them to collective work together in an effective manner. As such, coordination encompasses a broad variety of different processes, including cooperation, synchronization, and pattern formation. Cooperation is the most important challenge to Darwin's theory of evolution, and it is fundamental for the understanding of the main evolutionary transitions that led from single-cell organisms to complex animal and human societies. If only the fittest survive, why should an organism carry out an altruistic act that is costly to perform, but benefits another? Synchronization and pattern formation, on the other hand, are one of the most distinctive and universal phenomena across nonlinear sciences as well as in liquid crystals. Methods of nonequilibrium statistical physics, in particular the collective behaviour of interacting particles near phase transitions, have recently emerged as invaluable for understanding coordinating outcomes of complex systems in multilayer networks. Importantly, multi-point interactions that are involved in such processes give rise to critical behaviour that in complexity surpasses everything known from pairwise interactions that typically govern solid-state physics systems. The incompleteness of the existing theory is amplified further by the interactions among different networks, which give rise to multi-level dependencies that may induce cascading failures and accelerate sudden transitions towards system-wide catastrophes. Our aim is to utilize and extend the concept of phase transitions and universality, so that it will become apt for describing and explaining the emergence of coordination in multilayer networks. We will strive to develop widely applicable theoretical foundations that will open up new horizons towards understanding, predicting, and controlling a rich variety of fascinating phenomena that rely on coordination efforts. From large-scale cooperation in human societies to patterns in liquid-crystal films to science appreciation, the promise of having a firm theoretical grip on the phase transitions that lead to coordination in multilayer networks will have broad stimulating effects on research in theoretical and statistical physics.
