Physics of complex systems: emergent properties and dynamical networks

物理的、地球物理的、化学的、生命的和人造的系统经常表现出一些行为，这些行为不能通过研究它们的组成部分或更详细的成分来理解，但这些行为是紧急的。涌现的概念可以概括为存在一个实体（例如一个有机体），它不仅仅是其各部分的总和。理解突现特性和复杂模式，它们的稳定性和导致它们在非平衡系统中的自组织过程是现代物理学的中心任务之一。这类系统的突出例子包括地震活动性和人类心脏动力学，一般的神经信号或生物信号过程，对社会具有巨大的重要性。对地震活动性的详细了解是确保成功地进行地震危险性评估和探索成功预测地震的可能性所必需的。详细了解大脑对于治疗癫痫等与大脑有关的疾病至关重要。

Physical, geophysical, chemical, living and man-made systems often show behaviors that cannot be understood by studying their building blocks or constituents to ever finer detail but that are emergent. The concept of emergence can be summarized by the statement that there exists an entity (e.g. an organism) which is more than the sum of its parts. Understanding emergent properties and complex patterns, their stability and the self-organization processes leading to them in non-equilibrium systems is one of the central quests of modern physics. Prominent examples of such systems include seismicity and human heart dynamics, neural signaling or biological signaling processes in general, with immense importance for society. A detailed understanding of seismicity is required to ensure successful seismic hazard assessment and to explore the possibility of successful earthquake prediction. A detailed understanding of the brain is essential to tackle brain related diseases such as epilepsy.