Physics and Complexity: a brief spin glass perspective

TL;DR

This paper explores how statistical physics, especially spin glass theory, explains complex behaviors in many-body systems, highlighting its influence across scientific disciplines and its reciprocal stimulation of new insights.

Contribution

It provides a brief overview of the role of spin glass models in understanding complexity and the mutual influence between physics and other scientific fields.

Findings

Statistical physics offers key insights into complex many-body systems.

Spin glass models have broad applications across sciences.

The field has evolved through reciprocal influence with other disciplines.

Abstract

Complex macroscopic behaviour can arise in many-body systems with only very simple elements as a consequence of the combination of competition and inhomogeneity. This paper attempts to illustrate how statistical physics has driven this recognition, has contributed new insights and methodologies of wide application influencing many fields of science, and has been stimulated in return.