Interacting many-body systems as non-cooperative games

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel interpretation of many-body physical systems as non-cooperative games, establishing a link between condensed matter physics and game theory through Ising models.

Contribution

It introduces a mapping between Ising Hamiltonians and multi-player non-cooperative games, revealing new insights into physical phenomena.

Findings

Non-cooperative phenomena can emerge from Ising models.

A formal connection between condensed matter physics and game theory.

Physical systems can be analyzed using game-theoretic concepts.

Abstract

We explore the possibility that physical phenomena arising from interacting multi-particle systems, can be usefully interpreted in terms of multi-player games. We show how non-cooperative phenomena can emerge from Ising Hamiltonians, even though the individual spins behave cooperatively. Our findings establish a mapping between two fundamental models from condensed matter physics and game theory.