TU 7: Network models
[K. Amunts, R.-M. Memmesheimer, S. Mukherjee]
Systems with network structure are ubiquitous in nature and in the sciences. They have in common that they consist of concrete or abstract units, which are interconnected, often in a complicated way. Of particular importance is their ability to generate a plethora of emergent phenomena: Collective dynamics, structure formation and even the collective processing of information. Many of the systems investigated in CASCADE have a network structure, for example the biological neural networks of nerve cells and their abstract artificial counterparts in machine learning, the interconnected system of regions in the brain, networks of computers, gene expression networks, systems of chemical reactions and probabilistic dependencies of risk factors in disease. In the last decades, some elaborate tools for the characterization, simulation and analytical study of network systems have been developed. These are partly universally applicable, partly specific to certain subject areas. The TU “Network models” will provide such tools to the cluster, further develop them and foster their interdisciplinary transfer and modification between subject areas.
