Scale invariance and universality: organizing principles in complex systems

H.e Stanley, L.A.n Amaral, P Gopikrishnan, P.Ch Ivanov, T.h Keitt and V Plerou

Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, 2000, vol. 281, issue 1, 60-68

Abstract: This paper is a brief summary of a talk that was designed to address the question of whether two of the pillars of the field of phase transitions and critical phenomena – scale invariance and universality – can be useful in guiding research on a broad class of complex phenomena. We shall see that while scale invariance has been tested for many years, universality is relatively more rarely discussed. In particular, we shall develop a heuristic argument that serves to make more plausible the universality hypothesis in both thermal critical phenomena and percolation phenomena, and suggest that this argument could be developed into a possible coherent approach to understanding the ubiquity of scale invariance and universality in a wide range of complex systems.

Date: 2000
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:281:y:2000:i:1:p:60-68

DOI: 10.1016/S0378-4371(00)00195-3

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