MATH+ Activity Group “Mathematics in the Humanities and Social Sciences” warmly invites you to a guest lecture by
Eckehard Schöll (TU Berlin)
Topic: "Synchronization Scenarios in Complex Networks: from Brain Dynamics to Power Grids"
Date: Tuesday, 14.10.2025 at 10:00 CEST
The lecture will take place in the ZIB Seminar Room (Takustraße 7, 14195 Berlin).
Online participation is possible with a following zoom link: https://zib-de.zoom.us/j/62815139953
Abstract: Synchronization is a widespread phenomenon occurring in dynamical networks of nonlinear oscillators in a variety of natural, socio-economic, and technological systems. We review synchronization scenarios emerging in networks of statically or adaptively coupled nonlinear oscillators. Power grids, as well as neuronal networks with synaptic plasticity, or macroscopic stochastic models for economic cycle dynamics, describe real-world systems of tremendous importance for our daily life. An intriguing example are chimera states which consist of spatially coexisting domains of coherent (synchronized) and incoherent (desynchronized) dynamics, i.e., seemingly incongruous parts. We show that a plethora of partial synchronization patterns, like chimera states, cluster states or solitary states, may arise. We also focus on the subtle interplay of local dynamics, delay, and the network structure. Synchronization transitions are also associated with nonequilibrium phase transitions and critical collective phenomena.
Eckehard Schöll is Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics at TU Berlin (Berlin Institute of Technology), and Principal Investigator of the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Berlin. He holds PhD degrees in mathematics from the University of Southampton (UK, 1978) and in physics from RWTH Aachen (Germany, 1981), and an Honorary Doctorate from Saratov State University (Russia, 2017). In 2018 he received the Badge of Honor from the German Physical Society (DPG). He held a Visiting Professorship of the London Mathematical Society, and a Fulbright Senior Scholar Award at Duke University, USA. He is President of the International Physics and Control Society (IPACS), a member of the German Physical Society (DPG), and a member of the Italian Society for Chaos and Complexity (SICC), and a Board member and a Fellow of the Network Science Society. He is Speciality Chief Editor of the new open access Journal Frontiers in Network Physiology: Networks of Dynamical Systems, which was launched on April 1, 2021. He has authored about 600 publications in peer-reviewed journals (Hirsch index h=81, google scholar) and 3 books, and is editor of 5 books (among these the Handbook of Chaos Control) and 14 topical journal issues. He is an expert in the field of nonlinear dynamical systems and complex networks. His work pertains to a wide area of research in the fields of mathematics and physics, particularly semiconductor physics, laser physics, computational neuroscience, synchronization of complex systems and networks, time-delayed feedback control, and bifurcation theory. His latest research is also related to topics in biology and technology, e.g. simulation of the dynamics in physiological or neuronal networks and power grids. He is one of the forerunners into the research of chimera states.
