Dynamics of hierarchical systems. An evolutionary approach (Q5916297)

The book, consisting of 7 chapters and an appendix, deals with an evolutionary approach of generation, storage and dissipation of information in physical and biological systems via dynamical processes. An emphasis is laid on the dynamics of formation and cognition of collective properties particularly on the problem of mutual simulation between two interacting subsystems and especially on the compressibility of the information received by a subsystem from its partner. Chapter 1 is an introduction. Chapter 2 presents preliminaries on two-dimensional nonlinear dynamics and statistical physics. Chapter 3 deals with the role of spherical waves as information carriers. Chapter 4 presents the elements of information and coding theory with applications. The basic concepts and features are presented. Communication between two self- organizing systems, each possessing two hierarchical levels, is modeled by a controlled Markov chain. Chapter 3 describes the elements of game theory with applications. Particularly two-person games described by two coupled linear or nonlinear first order ordinary differential equations are considered. Chapter 6 deals with the stochasticity due to deterministic dynamics in three- and higher-dimensional space. The Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser theorem, steady states, limit cycles, attracting tori, strange attractors and parameters characterizing their average behaviour, and a possible role for chaos in reliable information processing are discussed. Chapter 7 is an epilogue dealing with the relevance of chaos to biology and related fields. The appendix deals with the role of external noise at a neuronal hierarchical level, the difficulty of treating the transaction between two hierarchical levels with continuous nonlinear dynamics and the simulation of a van der Pol relaxation type oscillator driven by a harmonic excitation.