Complex and Adaptive Dynamical Systems: A Primer

TL;DR

This primer provides a comprehensive introduction to complex dynamical systems, emphasizing emergence, network topologies, and various models like cellular automata, Boolean networks, and evolutionary dynamics, suitable for newcomers and experts alike.

Contribution

It offers an integrated overview of key concepts and models in complex systems science, connecting graph theory, chaos, evolution, and cognition in a unified introductory framework.

Findings

Explains emergence in network-based dynamical systems.

Introduces models like cellular automata and Boolean networks.

Highlights the role of synchronization and self-organization.

Abstract

An thorough introduction is given at an introductory level to the field of quantitative complex system science, with special emphasis on emergence in dynamical systems based on network topologies. Subjects treated include graph theory and small-world networks, a generic introduction to the concepts of dynamical system theory, random Boolean networks, cellular automata and self-organized criticality, the statistical modeling of Darwinian evolution, synchronization phenomena and an introduction to the theory of cognitive systems. It inludes chapter on Graph Theory and Small-World Networks, Chaos, Bifurcations and Diffusion, Complexity and Information Theory, Random Boolean Networks, Cellular Automata and Self-Organized Criticality, Darwinian evolution, Hypercycles and Game Theory, Synchronization Phenomena and Elements of Cognitive System Theory.