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Title: Toward a quantitative theory of self-generated complexity

Journal Article · · Int. J. Theor. Phys.; (United States)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00668821· OSTI ID:6725073

Quantities are defined operationally which qualify as measures of complexity of patterns arising in physical situations. Their main features, distinguishing them from previously used quantities, are the following: (1) they are measure-theoretic concepts, more closely related to Shannon entropy than to computational complexity; and (2) they are observables related to ensembles of patterns, not to individual patterns. Indeed, they are essentially Shannon information needed to specify not individual patterns, but either measure-theoretic or algebraic properties of ensembles of patterns arising in a priori translationally invariant situations. Numerical estimates of these complexities are given for several examples of patterns created by maps and by cellular automata.

Research Organization:
Physics Dept., Univ. of Wuppertal, Wuppertal
OSTI ID:
6725073
Journal Information:
Int. J. Theor. Phys.; (United States), Vol. 25:9
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English