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A Road to Randomness in Physical Systems

Author: Eduardo M.R.A. Engel

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 1441986847

There are many ways of introducing the concept of probability in classical, i. e, deter ministic, physics. This work is concerned with one approach, known as "the method of arbitrary funetionJ. " It was put forward by Poincare in 1896 and developed by Hopf in the 1930's. The idea is the following. There is always some uncertainty in our knowledge of both the initial conditions and the values of the physical constants that characterize the evolution of a physical system. A probability density may be used to describe this uncertainty. For many physical systems, dependence on the initial density washes away with time. Inthese cases, the system's position eventually converges to the same random variable, no matter what density is used to describe initial uncertainty. Hopf's results for the method of arbitrary functions are derived and extended in a unified fashion in these lecture notes. They include his work on dissipative systems subject to weak frictional forces. Most prominent among the problems he considers is his carnival wheel example, which is the first case where a probability distribution cannot be guessed from symmetry or other plausibility considerations, but has to be derived combining the actual physics with the method of arbitrary functions. Examples due to other authors, such as Poincare's law of small planets, Borel's billiards problem and Keller's coin tossing analysis are also studied using this framework. Finally, many new applications are presented.

A Road to Randomness in Physical Systems

Author: Eduardo M R a Engel

Publisher:

Published: 1992-02-01

Total Pages: 168

ISBN-13: 9781441986856

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Randomness & Undecidability in Physics

Author: Karl Svozil

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 1993

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 9789810208097

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Recent findings in the computer sciences, discrete mathematics, formal logics and metamathematics have opened up a royal road for the investigation of undecidability and randomness in physics. A translation of these formal concepts yields a fresh look into diverse features of physical modelling such as quantum complementarity and the measurement problem, but also stipulates questions related to the necessity of the assumption of continua.Conversely, any computer may be perceived as a physical system: not only in the immediate sense of the physical properties of its hardware. Computers are a medium to virtual realities. The foreseeable importance of such virtual realities stimulates the investigation of an ?inner description?, a ?virtual physics? of these universes of computation. Indeed, one may consider our own universe as just one particular realisation of an enormous number of virtual realities, most of them awaiting discovery.One motive of this book is the recognition that what is often referred to as ?randomness? in physics might actually be a signature of undecidability for systems whose evolution is computable on a step-by-step basis. To give a flavour of the type of questions envisaged: Consider an arbitrary algorithmic system which is computable on a step-by-step basis. Then it is in general impossible to specify a second algorithmic procedure, including itself, which, by experimental input-output analysis, is capable of finding the deterministic law of the first system. But even if such a law is specified beforehand, it is in general impossible to predict the system behaviour in the ?distant future?. In other words: no ?speedup? or ?computational shortcut? is available. In this approach, classical paradoxes can be formally translated into no-go theorems concerning intrinsic physical perception.It is suggested that complementarity can be modelled by experiments on finite automata, where measurements of one observable of the automaton destroys the possibility to measure another observable of the same automaton and it vice versa.Besides undecidability, a great part of the book is dedicated to a formal definition of randomness and entropy measures based on algorithmic information theory.

Randomnicity

Author: Anastasios A. Tsonis

Publisher: Imperial College Press

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 1848161980

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This unique book explores the definition, sources and role of randomness. A joyful discussion with many non-mathematical and mathematical examples leads to the identification of three sources of randomness: randomness due to irreversibility which inhibits us from extracting whatever rules may underlie a process, randomness due to our inability to have infinite power (chaos), and randomness due to many interacting systems. Here, all sources are found to have something in common: infinity. The discussion then moves to the physical system (our universe). Through the quantum mechanical character of small scales, the second law of thermodynamics and chaos, randomness is shown to be an intrinsic property of nature - this is consistent with the three sources of randomness identified above. Finally, an explanation is given as to why rules and randomness cannot exist by themselves, but instead have to coexist. Many examples are presented, ranging from pure mathematical to natural and social processes, that clearly demonstrate how the combination of rules and randomness produces the world we live in.

Random Processes in Physical Systems

Author: Charles Allen Whitney

Publisher: Wiley-VCH

Published: 1990-07-23

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13:

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Introduces the reader to applications of computer programs that permit the manipulation of simulated physical systems, unlocking the potential for dramatic insights in the fields of physics, chemistry and statistics. Divided into four sections, it opens with an introduction to pseudo-random numbers and discusses the concept of the ``random walk'' as well as the excitation of atoms whose energy arrives in discrete quanta. Sample listings of computer programs for some of the key calculations are included. Section 2 describes a few of the most important processes that take place in the continuum of time, especially the scattering of photons in a gas and the ``Brownian motion'' of small particles. The third section applies these modeling techniques to the behavior of more complex systems and points the way to what promises to be a major use of computers in the future. Section 4 introduces the application of randomizing methods to the solution of statistical problems such as curve-fitting and error analysis. Using computer methods modeled on the rules of gambling, it promises to be a milestone in the field of physics education.

Dynamics of Gambling: Origins of Randomness in Mechanical Systems

Author: Jaroslaw Strzalko

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2010-01-14

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 364203960X

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Our everyday life is in?uenced by many unexpected (dif?cult to predict) events usually referred as a chance. Probably, we all are as we are due to the accumulation point of a multitude of chance events. Gambling games that have been known to human beings nearly from the beginning of our civilization are based on chance events. These chance events have created the dream that everybody can easily become rich. This pursuit made gambling so popular. This book is devoted to the dynamics of the mechanical randomizers and we try to solve the problem why mechanical device (roulette) or a rigid body (a coin or a die) operating in the way described by the laws of classical mechanics can behave in such a way and produce a pseudorandom outcome. During mathematical lessons in primary school we are taught that the outcome of the coin tossing experiment is random and that the probability that the tossed coin lands heads (tails) up is equal to 1/2. Approximately, at the same time during physics lessons we are told that the motion of the rigid body (coin is an example of suchabody)isfullydeterministic. Typically,studentsarenotgiventheanswertothe question Why this duality in the interpretation of the simple mechanical experiment is possible? Trying to answer this question we describe the dynamics of the gambling games based on the coin toss, the throw of the die, and the roulette run.

A New Kind of Science

Author: Stephen Wolfram

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 1197

ISBN-13: 9780713991161

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This work presents a series of dramatic discoveries never before made public. Starting from a collection of simple computer experiments---illustrated in the book by striking computer graphics---Wolfram shows how their unexpected results force a whole new way of looking at the operation of our universe. Wolfram uses his approach to tackle a remarkable array of fundamental problems in science: from the origin of the Second Law of thermodynamics, to the development of complexity in biology, the computational limitations of mathematics, the possibility of a truly fundamental theory of physics, and the interplay between free will and determinism.

Random and Quasi-Random Point Sets

Author: Peter Hellekalek

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 1998-10-09

Total Pages: 358

ISBN-13: 9780387985541

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This book sumarizes recent theoretical and practical developments. The generation and the assessment of pseudo- and quasi-random point sets is one of the basic tasks of applied mathematics and statistics, with implications for Monte Carlo methods, stochastic simulation, and applied statistics. They are also of strong theoretical interest, with applications to algebraic geometry, metric number theory, probability theory, and cryptology.

Lectures on Random Voronoi Tessellations

Author: Jesper Moller

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 146122652X

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Tessellations are subdivisions of d-dimensional space into non-overlapping "cells". Voronoi tessellations are produced by first considering a set of points (known as nuclei) in d-space, and then defining cells as the set of points which are closest to each nuclei. A random Voronoi tessellation is produced by supposing that the location of each nuclei is determined by some random process. They provide models for many natural phenomena as diverse as the growth of crystals, the territories of animals, the development of regional market areas, and in subjects such as computational geometry and astrophysics. This volume provides an introduction to random Voronoi tessellations by presenting a survey of the main known results and the directions in which research is proceeding. Throughout the volume, mathematical and rigorous proofs are given making this essentially a self-contained account in which no background knowledge of the subject is assumed.

Random Sums and Branching Stochastic Processes

Author: Ibrahim Rahimov

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 1461242169

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The aim of this monograph is to show how random sums (that is, the summation of a random number of dependent random variables) may be used to analyse the behaviour of branching stochastic processes. The author shows how these techniques may yield insight and new results when applied to a wide range of branching processes. In particular, processes with reproduction-dependent and non-stationary immigration may be analysed quite simply from this perspective. On the other hand some new characterizations of the branching process without immigration dealing with its genealogical tree can be studied. Readers are assumed to have a firm grounding in probability and stochastic processes, but otherwise this account is self-contained. As a result, researchers and graduate students tackling problems in this area will find this makes a useful contribution to their work.