On the emergence of complex systems on the basis of the coordination of complex behaviors of their elements

Fatihcan M. Atay and Jürgen Jost

Contact the author: Please use for correspondence this email.
Submission date: 08. Dec. 2003
Pages: 12
published in: Complexity, 10 (2004) 1, p. 17-22 
DOI number (of the published article): 10.1002/cplx.20045
Bibtex
Keywords and phrases: complexity, chaos, networks, time delay
Download full preprint: PDF (642 kB), PS ziped (828 kB)

Abstract:
We argue that the coordination of the activities of individual complex agents enables a system to develop and sustain complexity at a higher level. We exemplify relevant mechanisms through computer simulations of a toy system, a coupled map lattice with transmission delays. The coordination here is achieved through the synchronization of the chaotic operations of the individual elements, and on the basis of this, regular behavior at a longer temporal scale emerges that is inaccessible to the uncoupled individual dynamics.