Is the fossil record indicative of a critical system?

Naeem Jan (), Leo Moseley, Tane Ray and Dietrich Stauffer
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Naeem Jan: Physics Department, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada B2G 2W5, Canada
Leo Moseley: Physics Department, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada B2G 2W5, Canada;
Tane Ray: Physics Department, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada B2G 2W5, Canada;
Dietrich Stauffer: Physics Department, St Francis Xavier University, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada B2G2 W5, Canada;

Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), 1999, vol. 02, issue 02, 137-141

Abstract: We examine the distribution of the relative fractional fluctuation of the magnetisation of a 3D Ising ferromagnet at the critical temperatureTcby considering a histogram of frequency of the fractional magnetisation. The distribution is highly non-Gaussian and is reminiscent of the histogram of extinction intensity for fossil genera shown by Raup1(1991) (see also Newman (1996)). The graph of relative fractional change ofmagnetisation vs MC time is compatible in appearance with the graph showing the variation of the number of extinction of families of marine animals with time (over hundreds of millions of years) given by Raup (1991), Sepkoski (1993) or Newman (1996). Our results show a power law dependence usually taken as evidence for the existence of a critical system.

Keywords: biological extinction; critical system; fossil record; Ising model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
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DOI: 10.1142/S0219525999000084

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