Equivalent dynamical complexity in a many-body quantum and collective human system

Abstract

Proponents of Complexity Science believe that the huge variety of emergent phenomena observed throughout nature, are generated by relatively few microscopic mechanisms. Skeptics however point to the lack of concrete examples in which a single mechanistic model manages to capture relevant macroscopic and microscopic properties for two or more distinct systems operating across radically different length and time scales. Here we show how a single complexity model built around cluster coalescence and fragmentation, can cross the fundamental divide between many-body quantum physics and social science. It simultaneously (i) explains a mysterious recent finding of Fratini concerning quantum many-body effects in cuprate superconductors (i.e. scale of 10−9 − 10−4 meters and 10−12 − 10−6 seconds), (ii) explains the apparent universality of the casualty distributions in distinct human insurgencies and terrorism (i.e. scale of 103 − 106 meters and 104 − 108 seconds), (iii) shows consistency with various established empirical facts for financial markets, neurons and human gangs and (iv) makes microscopic sense for each application. Our findings also suggest that a potentially productive shift can be made in Complexity research toward the identification of equivalent many-body dynamics in both classical and quantum regimes

Competing Striped Structures in La2CuO4+y

“…Our experimental results prove that the lattice of HTS has a nanoscale complex granular structure. These data support theories having taken into account the intrinsic granularity in high temperature superconductors [41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56] and the multi-band, multi-gap or multi-condensate superconductivity [8,9,[57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65]. Although in solid-state physics multi-component nanoscale granular matter for novel material functionalities has only recently started to be explored, in biology multi-scale structural organization is already known to be essential in the organization of the living matter [66][67].…”

Internal character dictates transition dynamics between isolation and cohesive grouping

“…Whether the underlying N objects are particles, people or proteins, the issue of whether they evolve as isolated individuals or aggregates has significant consequences at the macro-level [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. Super-radiance is driven by two-level systems coupling coherently via a background boson mode [16]; many neurodegenerative diseases are driven by aggregation of proteins [17]; large market movements are driven by traders' herding [18][19][20]; insurgencies are driven by informal human groupings [21][22][23][24] as are gangs and online guilds [25]; brain activity features collective neuronal avalanches [26]; and many-body coherence phenomena are impacted by connectivity within exotic materials [27,28] and networks [13,14].…”

A generalized voter model with time-decaying memory on a multilayer network

“…In the physical world, the occurrence of phase transitions between a disordered system and an ordered system has long been an important issue which has been extensively studied by scientists [1,2,3,4,5,6]. For example, in the magnetic field, the spin-up and spin-down dynamics have been investigated by statistical physicists [7,8,9,10,11,12].…”