Nonlinear dynamics, chaos and complex systems

PHYS-460

Media

PHYS-460 Nonlinear dynamics_ chaos and complex systems

09, Lecture 9 - 12.11.2020

12.11.2020, 15:44

08, Lecture 8 - 05.11.2020

05.11.2020, 16:02

07, Lecture 7 - 29.10.2020

29.10.2020, 15:50

06, Lecture 6 - 22.10.2020

22.10.2020, 15:45

05, Lecture 5 - 15.10.2020

15.10.2020, 15:42

04, Lecture 4 - 8.10.2020

08.10.2020, 16:22

03, Lecture 3 - 01.10.2020

01.10.2020, 17:28

02, Lecture 2 - 24.09.2020

24.09.2020, 17:57

01, Lecture 1- 17.09.2020

17.09.2020, 18:12

14, Lecture 14 - 17.12.2020

17.12.2020, 16:08

13, Lecture 13 - 10.12.2020

10.12.2020, 15:55

12, Lecture 12 - 03.12.2020

03.12.2020, 16:09

11, Lecture 11 - 26.11.2020

26.11.2020, 15:42

10, Lecture 10/2 19.11.2020

19.11.2020, 16:01

10, Lecture 10/1 19.11.2020

19.11.2020, 15:55


This file is part of the content downloaded from Nonlinear dynamics, chaos and complex systems.
Course summary

Complex systems consist of a large number of mutually interacting and strongly interdependent elements that exhibit chaotic behaviour (extreme sensitivity to initial conditions, fractal geometry, self-organized criticality), multiple metastable states, and a non-gaussian distribution of outputs. These elements make the long-term prediction of their behaviour impossible in general, even though these systems are deterministic, meaning that their future is fully determined by their initial conditions, with no random elements involved.

The study of complex systems is an emerging and very active area of research in physics, with applications that include social systems, population modeling, biology, climate, meteorology, information theory, computational neuroscience, etc. Thanks to the availability of powerful computers, on-going research has brought many new insights in their behavior.

The present course provides an introduction to the techniques to analyse non-linear and complex systems.  The course is open to master students and PhD candidates.


News


19.05.2025 The exercise session of May, 27th, 2025 is replaced by a bonus lecture from 16:15 to 19:00 in room GR A3 30.

07.03.2025 The lecture and exercise session of March, 11th, 2025 are cancelled, due to the study trip.
13.01.2025 The course moodle has been updated.




Course

Tuesday 10h15-13h00. Classes take place in room CE1106.

The recording of the lectures given by the previous teacher of this class, Paolo Ricci, can be found at the following link:
https://mediaspace.epfl.ch/channel/PHYS-460+Nonlinear+dynamics_+chaos+and+complex+systems/30394
Please note, however, that the content of the lectures given by Olivier Février can differ from these of Paolo Ricci. Only the lectures by Olivier Février will serve as a reference for the exam.



Exercises

Tuesday 16h15-18h00. The exercise sessions take place in room INF 213.

The problem sets can be downloaded a few days before the session. Printed copies are handed out at the beginning of the exercise session for the students on campus. The solution is published on this page a few days after the session. Please note that there is no bonus based on the exercise sessions for the final exam.



Exam

An individual oral exam takes place in the spring exam session. The mark is determined from the result of this exam only. The exam consists of two parts: half an hour of preparation and half an hour of oral examination. During the first part, the student may use his/her lecture notes and books... during the second part, the student is not allowed to consult any reference.

The exam covers the content of the lectures and the exercises. At the beginning of the exam, the teacher selects randomly 3 questions and the student discards one of those. The list of questions will be available a few weeks before the exam. Similarly, for the exercise content, the teacher selects randomly 2 exercises from the entire set of exercises proposed during the semester and the student discards one of those. Exercises or questions labelled as "bonus" are not part of the exam. During the first half an hour, the student prepares the answers to the chosen questions.

The exam will take place in AAC 0 06