In network science, one can study the dynamics of a network — nodes being added or removed, edges being rewired — or the dynamics on the network — spins flipping from up to down in an Ising model, traffic flow along subway routes, an infection spreading through a susceptible population, etc. These have often been studied separately, on the rationale that they occur at different timescales. For example, the traffic load on the different lines of the Boston subway network changes on an hourly basis, but the plans to extend the Green Line into Medford have been deliberated since World War II.
In the past few years, increasing attention has been focused on adaptive networks, in which the dynamics of and the dynamics on can occur at comparable timescales and feed back on one another. Useful references:
Continue reading Adaptive Networks →
Michael Schnabel, Matthias Kaschube, Fred Wolf, “Pinwheel stability, pattern selection and the geometry of visual space” (arXiv:0801.3832).
It has been proposed that the dynamical stability of topological defects in the visual cortex reflects the Euclidean symmetry of the visual world. We analyze defect stability and pattern selection in a generalized Swift-Hohenberg model of visual cortical development symmetric under the Euclidean group E(2). Euclidean symmetry strongly influences the geometry and multistability of model solutions but does not directly impact on defect stability.
Note to self: file alongside Bressloff, Cowan et al. for future reference.
Q. John is a mathematician. John is a nihilist. John can’t tell a cow from a donut. What does John study?
A. Yep, pointless topology!
Thank you, thank you, I’ll be here all week. . . .
MissPrism has hit me between the eyes:
Oliver Johnson, Christophe Vignat (2006). Some results concerning maximum Renyi entropy distributions.
We consider the Student-t and Student-r distributions, which maximise Renyi entropy under a covariance condition. We show that they have information-theoretic properties which mirror those of the Gaussian distributions, which maximise Shannon entropy under the same condition. We introduce a convolution which preserves the Renyi maximising family, and show that the Renyi maximisers are the case of equality in a version of the Entropy Power Inequality. Further, we show that the Renyi maximisers satisfy a version of the heat equation, motivating the definition of a generalized Fisher information.
Luciano da F. Costa, Francisco A. Rodrigues, Gonzalo Travieso, P. R. Villas Boas (2006). Characterization of complex networks: A survey of measurements.
Continue reading Currently Reading →
Our seminar series might or might not be getting into category theory in the coming months. (We’re already drawing diagrams and showing that they commute; not everybody knows it yet!) To facilitate this process should we ever go in that direction, and to provide a general public service, I’m compiling a list of useful category-theory resources extant on the Wobosphere. My selection will be pedagogically oriented, rather than emphasizing the latest research; I’d like to collect reading material which could plausibly be presented to advanced undergraduate or beginning graduate students in, say, their first semester of encountering the subject. I’ll be both happy and eager to update this list with any beneficial suggestions the Gentle Readers have to offer.
Continue reading Category Theory on the Wobosphere →
Ben has suggested the following paper as a target for our discussion. We should, he says, have the necessary background by the end of the summer.
As the abstract says, the paper is divided into two main parts:
Continue reading Chaos, Phase Transitions and Topology →
Yesterday evening, we had our first seminar session on the group theory track, led by Ben Allen. We covered the definition of groups, semigroups and monoids, and we developed several examples by transforming a pentagon. After a brief interlude on discrete topology and — no snickers, please — pointless topology, Ben introduced the concept of generators and posed several homework questions intended to lead us into the study of Lie groups and Lie algebras.
Notes are available in PDF format, or as a gzipped tarball for those who wish to play with the original LaTeX source. Likewise, the current notes for the entropy and information-theory seminar track (the Friday sessions) are available in both PDF and tarball flavors.
Our next session will be Friday afternoon at NECSI, where we will continue discussing Claude Shannon’s classic paper, A/The Mathematical Theory of Communication (1948). The following Monday, Eric will treat us to the grand canonical ensemble.
"no matter how gifted, you alone cannot change the world"
