Physics can be divided into two worldviews.
There’s the reductionist view, which says that physical phenomena can be understood by analyzing the constituent parts of matter: the atomic and subatomic particles underlying structures. By studying the properties of the smallest parts, you can understand the whole.
There’s also the emergence view, which says that unseen organizing principles govern physical phenomena. These principles arise separately from the basic building blocks. The sum is more than its parts.
“A water molecule has none of the properties that we associate with water,” explained Rajiv Singh, a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis. “It’s only when you have a very large number of molecules that you have fluidity, that you have taste, all those properties are not there in a water molecule.”
In other words, the properties emerge.
This phenomenon of emergence will take centerstage for a week this summer at UC Davis.
From Aug. 31 to Sept. 4, the Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter, or ICAM, will hold its annual meeting at the Walter A. Buehler Alumni Center.
Register for the ICAM Week of Science
The conference will include a variety of talks and roundtables featuring distinguished experts in soft, biological and quantum matter. Roundtable discussions will cover current topics in science and technology including artificial intelligence, or AI. The conference will close with a three-day workshop in the Physics Building titled “Novel Experimental Techqniues for Exploring Quantum Materials."
According to Singh, most of the phenomena we see around us are emergent. Think of the quantum property of superconductivity or the myriad complex behaviors that emerge in biological life. All these properties cannot be anticipated from their constituent parts and hence are emergent. The institute’s shorthand for matter that exhibits such emergent phenomena is “complex adaptive matter.” Newly discovered AI is an example of emergence.
“In some sense, the most important aspect of complex adaptive matter is life,” Singh said. “Our hope really is that ICAM will include biologists, chemists, physicists, you know, everybody who's working in overlapping areas.”
Founded in 1998 at the Los Alamos National Laboratory by the late physicist David Pines, ICAM is a global network of more than 75 branches spread across the globe. Its headquarters have been at UC Davis since 2007, when Pines joined the UC Davis faculty.
“When ICAM was founded, David Pines’ impression was that the field of emergence had, in some sense, not had the same kind of popular impact as the field of reductionism,” Singh said. “He wanted there to be something that allows people to collaborate and work in a concerted manner around the world and to also expound what this field is about. That was the main driving force behind the founding of this institute.”
The institute is currently co-directed by Singh, Cristina Marchetti of UC Santa Barbara and Piers Coleman of Rutgers University.
Register for the conference here.
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