Identifying Complexity by Means of Matrices

Abstract

Complexity is an interdisciplinary concept which, first of all, addresses the question of how order emerges out of randomness. For many reasons matrices provide a very practical and powerful tool in approaching and quantifying the related characteristics. Based on several natural complex dynamical systems, like the strongly interacting quantum many-body systems, the human brain and the financial markets, by relating empirical observations to the random matrix theory and quantifying deviations in term of a reduced dimensionality, we present arguments in favour of the statement that complexity is a pheomenon at the edge between collectivity and chaos.

Comments: Talk given by S. Drozdz at "Horizons in Complex Systems", Messina, December 5-8, 2001