CMI Silver Jubilee Lecture

Deepak Dhar, TIFR, Mumbai

Rocks, Rivers and Sand: Simple models of complex systems

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Abstract:

This talk will explore the self-organization and emergent criticality in systems with many interacting degrees of freedom. I will take three examples of complex systems: fragmentation processes in rocks and icebergs, river networks, and avalanches in sand piles. One can construct rather simple mathematical models of these, which are analytically tractable. The exact solution of the mathematical model helps understand the underlying physics of the much more complicated actual system. It can also help in realizing some non-obvious relationships between very different problems.