One of the challenges of modeling social complex systems is the creation of adequately realistic human agents in order for realistic patterns to emerge from the simulation. In this project we are interested in incorporating psychological theories into the formulation of more socially realistic agent-based models, e.g., for studying the emergence of exclusionary attitudes and opinion polarization in liberal democracies.

 

To better understand these complex systems, we consider their stability and tipping behaviour, where tipping refers to the systems’ drastic transition from one rather stable regime to another stable regime possibly due to an external forcing. Our specific interest then lies in the study of changes in the stability of a system under perturbations and the analysis of internal and external variables that render a social complex system more resilient to tipping, but also the analysis of the possible tipping paths and how the likelihood of a tipping event can be influenced.

Publications

2022
Non-stationary Transition Path Theory with applications to tipping and agent-based models Doctoral thesis, Freie Universität Berlin, Christof Schütte (Advisor), 2022 Luzie Helfmann BibTeX
DOI
Stability and Tipping in Social Systems
2021
Statistical analysis of tipping pathways in agent-based models Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top., Vol.230, pp. 3249-3271, 2021 Luzie Helfmann, Jobst Heitzig, Péter Koltai, Jürgen Kurths, Christof Schütte BibTeX
arXiv
DOI
Stability and Tipping in Social Systems
Transition paths of marine debris and the stability of the garbage patches Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, 31(3), 2021 Philippe Miron, Francisco Beron-Vera, Luzie Helfmann, Péter Koltai BibTeX
arXiv
DOI
Stability and Tipping in Social Systems
2020
Extending Transition Path Theory: Periodically Driven and Finite-Time Dynamics Journal of Nonlinear Science, Vol.30, pp. 3321-3366, 2020 Luzie Helfmann, Enric Ribera Borrell, Christof Schütte, Peter Koltai BibTeX
DOI
Stability and Tipping in Social Systems