Complex systems: Many natural systems are composed of a large number of small elements, where the behavior of an individual element is simple, but when combined, exhibit complex dynamics. Such systems include different materials, geological systems such as earthquake faults, neural networks, different biological systems and more.

 

Despite significant progress in this field during the 20th century, there are still many open questions, especially in the context of systems with quenched (frozen) disorder - disorder that does not change in time or that changes very slowly. Such systems exhibit unique features such as hierarchical memory, transition between periodic and irreversible dynamics, aging, non-equilibrium critical dynamics and more.

 

In our group we study such systems using computer simulations and by developing simple “toy models” that facilitate understanding of the physical mechanism leading to this complex behavior.