Preface

Abstract

It has long been recognized that chaos is ubiquitous in science~: Phenomena in diverse branches of physics, ranging from oceanographic and atmospheric sciences, fluid mechanics and plasma physics to accelerator physics, atomic physics, condensed matter, astrophysics and social networks are finding their roots in chaos, complexity or transport. Nonlinear dynamicists are facing an increase of complexity due to more challenging problems to solve and to an overwhelming number of data resulting from an extensive use of numerical simulation and also newly accessible real-time experimental data. As a result, cross-fertilization between various fields is called for and is at the heart of this special issue on {\em Chaos, Complexity and Transport}. The idea of editing a special issue on Chaos, Complexity and Transport arose during a conference which was held in Marseilles (France) in June 2007. The guide-line of this special issue was to gather papers on various areas of physics in order to offer some multi-disciplinary perspective on research dealing with chaos, complexity and transport. Among the wide range of works proposed in this volume, there are papers dealing with dispersion of particles in three dimensional flows or electromagnetic fields, short time dynamics of systems with long range interactions, correlated electron dynamics, nonlinear plasma reconnection processes, particle physics and chemotaxis. Some other papers of more theoretical nature are concerned with dynamical systems such as Hamiltonian chaos and synchronization. We are confident that this issue reinforces the wide variety of physical applications involved with the problem of chaos and complexity arising from nonlinear dynamics and processes. We would like to thank the managers of Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation for giving us the opportunity to edit this volume and for the kind help they provided during the whole process. We are also grateful to Prof. Albert Luo, for his help in coordinating the issue among the guest editors. We would like to thank all the contributing authors. The quality of their contributions undoubtedly ensures the success of this special issue. Originally Professor George M. Zaslavsky was part of the team of guest editors for this special issue. It is with profound sadness that we learnt of the passing of our estimated colleague on November 25, 2008. George was one of the founding fathers of Hamiltonian Chaos theory. Besides his fundamental work on Hamiltonian chaos in the course of his career, he provided numerous key contributions in fields as varied as plasma physics, quantum chaos, fractional kinetics, statistical physics, geophysics, etc... His creativity, ideas and joy of life will be greatly missed. We dedicate this special issue to his memory.