How nature works: the science of self-organized criticalityThis is a science book, intended for the general reader who is interested in science. The author is a physicist who is well-known for his development of the property called "self-organized Criticality", a property or phenomenon that lies at the heart of large dynamical systems. It can be used to analyse systems that are complicated, and which are part of the new science of complexity. It is a unifying concept that can be used to study phenomena in fields as diverse as economics, astronomy, the earth sciences, and physics. The author discusses his discovery of self-organized criticality; its relation to the world of classical physics; computer simulations and experiments which aid scientist's understanding of the property; and the relation of the subject to popular areas such as fractal geometry and power laws; cellular automata, and a wide range of practical applications. The book is readable without a science background--below the level of Scientific American. |
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Contents
Tne Discovery 01 SelfOrganized | 33 |
On Coupled Pendulums | 40 |
The Sandfme Paradigm | 49 |
Copyright | |
13 other sections not shown
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activity avalanches behavior biological evolution biology brain Brookhaven calculations catastrophic cause Chao Tang chaos complex computer simulations configuration couple curve dynamics earth earthquakes ecology economics economists evolution model experiment exponent extinction events fault Figure fitness landscape fjords fluctuations Game geophysics global grain of sand Gutenberg-Richter law i/f noise ideas individual Institute laboratory large avalanches large events mathematical measured mechanism million mutation nature neighbors neurons observations organized Paczuski particles pattern pendulums periods of stasis phenomena phenomenon physicists pile Plate plot power law distribution predict punctuated equilibrium quakes random number represent rice rotating sand model sand slides sandpile model Santa Fe Institute scale scientists self-organized criticality Sergei Maslov shows signal simple model single slope solar flares statistical step Stephen Jay Gould straight line Stuart Kauffman studied theory threshold tion toppling total number traffic jams turbidite University Zipf's law
Bibliographic information
| Title | How nature works: the science of self-organized criticality Copernicus Series General Science |
| Author | Per Bak |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Copernicus, 1996 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | Jan 27, 2010 |
| ISBN | 0387947914, 9780387947914 |
| Length | 212 pages |
| Subjects | › › Complexity (Philosophy) Critical phenomena (Physics) Philosophy / General Physics Physics - Philosophy Physics/ Philosophy Science / Physics / General Science / System Theory |
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