Stochastic Transport In Complex Systems

The first part of the book provides a pedagogical introduction to the physics of complex systems driven far from equilibrium. In this part we discuss the basic concepts and theoretical techniques which are commonly used to study classical stochastic transport in systems of interacting driven particles. The analytical techniques include mean-field theories, matrix product ansatz, renormalization group, etc. and the numerical methods are mostly based on computer simulations. In the second part of the book these concepts and techniques are applied not only to vehicular traffic but also to transport and traffic-like phenomena in living systems ranging from collective movements of social insects (for example, ants) on trails to intracellular molecular motor transport. These demonstrate the conceptual unity of the fundamental principles underlying the apparent diversity of the systems and the utility of the theoretical toolbox of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics in interdisciplinary research far beyond the traditional disciplinary boundaries of physics. Leading industry experts provide a broad overview of the interdisciplinary nature of physics Presents unified descriptions of intracellular, ant, and vehicular traffic from a physics point of view Applies theoretical methods in practical everyday situations Reference and guide for physicists, engineers and graduate students

Dynamical evolution over long time scales is a prominent feature of all the systems we intuitively think of as complex — for example, ecosystems, the brain or the economy. In physics, the term ageing is used for this type of slow change, occurring over time scales much longer than the patience, or indeed the lifetime, of the observer. The main focus of this book is on the stochastic processes which cause ageing, and the surprising fact that the ageing dynamics of systems which are very different at the microscopic level can be treated in similar ways.The first part of this book provides the necessary mathematical and computational tools and the second part describes the intuition needed to deal with these systems. Some of the first few chapters have been covered in several other books, but the emphasis and selection of the topics reflect both the authors' interests and the overall theme of the book. The second part contains an introduction to the scientific literature and deals in some detail with the description of complex phenomena of a physical and biological nature, for example, disordered magnetic materials, superconductors and glasses, models of co-evolution in ecosystems and even of ant behaviour. These heterogeneous topics are all dealt with in detail using similar analytical techniques.This book emphasizes the unity of complex dynamics and provides the tools needed to treat a large number of complex systems of current interest. The ideas and the approach to complex dynamics it presents have not appeared in book form until now./a

Stochastic transport is a widely studied phenomenon among physicists. This includes diffusive processes like Brownian motion which have helped describe numerous systems ranging from the spreading of dye molecules in a liquid to the spreading of human populations. Transport behavior can be affected by properties such as the local curvature of a surface or the dynamics of a network on which the transport takes place. A quantitative characterization of these factors is critical for a deeper understanding of transport in such cases and is of much interest to the study of random walk theory, stochastic processes, and anomalous diffusion in general. In this dissertation, we aim to accomplish this aim by focusing on two specific cases - (i) anomalous diffusion of a random walker on curved surfaces and (ii) transport of cargo on dynamic filament networks. Levy walks are a class of anomalous diffusion studied in Euclidean space. In many cases of interest, transport takes place on surfaces with non-zero Gaussian curvature. We take the first steps towards studying how surface curvature affects anomalous transport described by Levy walk statistics. We develop a computational model to simulate Levy walks along geodesics in Euclidean, spherical, and hyperbolic spaces. By comparing our numerical results to a Taylor expansion of the mean-squared displacement (MSD) in powers of curvature around the Euclidean case, we can establish the validity of a generalized expression for MSD of anomalous diffusion with curvature corrections. The transport of cargo within cells is a critical physiological process. Many new studies consider the impact on transport of the morphology of the networks of filaments. One aspect that has received less attention is the growth/shrinkage and dynamic turnover of these networks. We study transport of cargo carried by myosin motors on dynamic actin network. Use a stochastic simulation model accounting for both active and passive transport and incorporate the dynamics of the actin network. We show how treadmilling speed of actin filament affect cargo transport, motor attachment/detachment rates and network density. We show the existence of filament dynamics in physiological regimes that optimize cargo transport and how it can be tuned.

This book continues the biannual series of conference proceedings, which has become a classical reference resource in traffic and granular research alike, and addresses the latest developments at the intersection of physics, engineering and computational science. These involve complex systems, in which multiple simple agents, be they vehicles or particles, give rise to surprising and fascinating phenomena. The contributions collected in these proceedings cover several research fields, all of which deal with transport. Topics include highway, pedestrian and internet traffic; granular matter; biological transport; transport networks; data acquisition; data analysis and technological applications. Different perspectives, i.e., modeling, simulations, experiments, and phenomenological observations are considered.

This book presents 57 peer-reviewed papers from the 12th Conference on Traffic and Granular Flow (TGF) held in Washington, DC, in July 2017. It offers a unique synthesis of the latest scientific findings made by researchers from different countries, institutions and disciplines. The research fields covered range from physics, computer science and engineering and they may be all grouped under the topic of "Traffic and Granular Flow". The main theme of the Conference was: "From Molecular Interactions to Internet of Things and Smart Cities: The Role of Technology in the Understanding and the Evolution of Particle Dynamics".