Toward a probabilistic approach to complex systems (Q1321720)

The authors begin with a discussion of the Frobenius-Perron operator of a dynamical system and its spectral decomposition. Then they proceed to various notions connected with ``discretization'' of complex systems. It seems that the authors are unaware of the notion of the entropy of a dynamical system with respect to a finite partition [e.g. see \textit{I. P. Cornfeld, Ya. G. Sinai} and \textit{S. V. Fomin}, `Ergodic Theory', Springer (1982; Zbl 0493.28007)], so that they reintroduce it saying that it is ``an analogue of the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy''. Further, the notion of \(\varepsilon\)-entropy is discussed and its behaviour as a function of \(\varepsilon\) for various systems is compared (it is not clear at this point what the authors mean by \(\varepsilon\)-entropy of English or German texts being zero -- e.g. see \textit{A. M. Yaglom} and \textit{I. M. Yaglom}, ``Probability and information', Reidel (1983; Zbl 0544.94001)]. Finally, the authors explain how these ideas can be applied to an analysis of bifurcations, and suggest that non-deterministic systems with zero entropy should play an important role in the modeling of evolutionary processes. The paper is written on physical rather than mathematical level, and requires careful reading.