Brownian Agents and Active Particles: Collective Dynamics in the Natural and Social Sciences [Hardcover]

Frank Schweitzer (Author), J. D. Farmer (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 5, 2003 | ISBN-10: 3540439382 | ISBN-13: 978-3540439387 | Edition: 1

"This book lays out a vision for a coherent framework for understanding complex systems'' (from the foreword by J. Doyne Farmer). By developing the genuine idea of Brownian agents, the author combines concepts from informatics, such as multiagent systems, with approaches of statistical many-particle physics. This way, an efficient method for computer simulations of complex systems is developed which is also accessible to analytical investigations and quantitative predictions. The book demonstrates that Brownian agent models can be successfully applied in many different contexts, ranging from physicochemical pattern formation, to active motion and swarming in biological systems, to self-assembling of networks, evolutionary optimization, urban growth, economic agglomeration and even social systems.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews:

"Schweitzer's approach is gradual. The first four chapters are devoted to introducing more and more complexities and subtleties in the Brownian agent models, and the focus is on the models themselves rather than on the systems… Reading and understanding these chapters may be a difficult time-consuming task, but the reward is high. Starting from chapter five (on tracks and trail formation in biological systems) and ending with chapter ten (on opinion formation), the reader can amuse him/herself in dealing with models of real systems and devote his/her attention to the more relevant issues for his/her research.

"This book contains some gems. My favorite one is in chapter nine: the discussion of a spatial dynamic model for the labor market introduced by the well-known US economist Paul Krugman where "workers are assumed to move toward locations that offer them higher real wages". Schweitzer shows not only that Krugman's model is nothing else that an instance of a selection equation of the Fisher-Eigen type, but also, using the formalism developed previously, he can easily generalize it and question the economic meaning of the assumptions leading to Krugman's equations.

"I can recommend this book to all those working in the field of complex systems. They will find a detailed survey of the Brownian agent method and they might get good hints for further research in some of the fascinating fields herein discussed."

- Enrico Scalas (econophysics.org)

"[…] the author explores such diverse topics as pattern formation in reaction diffusion systems, self organisations of networks, tracks and trail formations in biological systems, movement and trail formation by pedestrians, urban aggregation, economic aggregations and spatial opinion structures in social systems. The topics are selected thoughtfully and the presentation is lucid. It is an extremely useful text for graduate students who are thinking of working on some problem in non equilibrium statistical physics." (Jayanta K. Bhattacharjee, Indian Journal of Physics 2004, vol. 78, page 1011)

"This book is organized around two ideas. First, the link between the micro- and the macro-behaviour of systems and secondly, the idea of a Brownian agent. … Many of these models and ideas have been circulating for some time and will be found in specialist publications. It is helpful to have them brought together and systematically expounded in this book which both unifies what exists and paves the way for new developments." (Professor D. J. Bartholomew, Contemporary Physics, Vol. 45 (4), 2004)

"The aim of the book is to show that a large set of phenomena in natural and social sciences can be studied by writing down equations of motion for the pertinent Brownian agents. … The topics are selected thoughtfully and the presentation is lucid. It is an extremely useful text for graduate students who are thinking of working on some problem in non equilibrium statistical physics." (Jayanta K Bhattacharjee, Indian Journal of Physics, Vol. 78 (9), 2004)

From the Back Cover

"This book lays out a vision for a coherent framework for understanding complex systems'' (from the foreword by J. Doyne Farmer). By developing the genuine idea of Brownian agents, the author combines concepts from informatics, such as multiagent systems, with approaches of statistical many-particle physics. This way, an efficient method for computer simulations of complex systems is developed which is also accessible to analytical investigations and quantitative predictions. The book demonstrates that Brownian agent models can be successfully applied in many different contexts, ranging from physicochemical pattern formation, to active motion and swarming in biological systems, to self-assembling of networks, evolutionary optimization, urban growth, economic agglomeration and even social systems. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 434 pages
• Publisher: Springer; 1 edition (August 5, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3540439382
• ISBN-13: 978-3540439387
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,467,098 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brownian agents, February 7, 2004

By 

Enrico Scalas (Alessandria, Italy) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brownian Agents and Active Particles: Collective Dynamics in the Natural and Social Sciences (Hardcover)

Brownian Agents and Active Particles: Collective Dynamics in the Natural and Social Sciences

by Frank Schweitzer

The field discussed by the book of Frank Schweitzer has been recently popularized by a novel of Michael Crichton: "Prey". If you want to know more about flocks and swarms and you are interested not only in science fiction, but also in science, the work of Frank Schweitzer is the right place to start with. The popularization of a rather esoteric scientific field, as the one discussed by Schweitzer, is a clear sign of its increasing relevance.

As usual, Crichton's book has a list of references and, as usual, almost only research performed in the United States is quoted. You will find many clues on this US tendency to completely overlook the work done elsewhere in the world also in the book of Schweitzer. Schweitzer's bibliography does justice to the huge efforts taking place in Germany and in Europe. Even if it is very difficult to give proper credits dealing with such a large range of issues as Schweitzer does, his bibliography is to be praised. His book is about Brownian agents, a smart generalization of Brownian particles including internal states. Brownian agents can be effectively used as phenomenological models for many natural and social phenomena including track formation in biological systems, movement and trail formation of humans, evolutionary optimization strategies, urban growth, quantitative sociodynamics, spatial opinion structures in social systems.

Schweitzer's approach is gradual. The first four chapters are devoted to introducing more and more complexities and subtleties in the Brownian agent models, and the focus is on the models themselves rather than on the systems. Reading and understanding these chapters may be a difficult time-consuming task, but the reward is high. Starting from chapter five (on tracks and trail formation in biological systems) and ending with chapter ten (on opinion formation), the reader can amuse him/herself in dealing with models of real systems and devote his/her attention to the more relevant issues for his/her research.

This book contains some gems. My favorite one is in chapter nine: the discussion of a spatial dynamic model for the labor market introduced by the well-known US economist Paul Krugman where "workers are assumed to move toward locations that offer them higher real wages". Schweitzer shows not only that Krugman's model is nothing else that an instance of a selection equation of the Fisher-Eigen type, but also, using the formalism developed previously, he can easily generalize it and question the economic meaning of the assumptions leading to Krugman's equations.

A limit of this book is that the comparison between theoretical results and available empirical data is not always discussed. In many cases, however, not many empirical data are available or of good quality. In this respect, this book can become a stimulus for further empirical research in the fields outlined.

Finally, as in many contemporary books, there are various misprints scattered throughout the chapters. However, these are minor and do not hamper the understanding of the text.

I can recommend this book to all those working in the field of complex systems. They will find a detailed survey of the Brownian agent method and they might get good hints for further research in some of the fascinating fields herein discussed.