arXiv subjects

Finn Müller-Hansen

Publications and source records attributed to Finn Müller-Hansen.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

From lakes and glades to viability algorithms: Automatic classification of system states according to the Topology of Sustainable Management

The framework Topology of Sustainable Management by Heitzig et al. (2016) distinguishes qualitatively different regions in state space of dynamical models representing manageable systems with default dynamics. In this paper, we connect the framework to viability theory by defining its main components based on viability kernels and capture basins. This enables us to use the Saint-Pierre algorithm to visualize the shape and calculate the volume of the main partition of the Topology of Sustainable Management. We present an extension of the algorithm to compute implicitly defined capture basins. To demonstrate the applicability of our approach, we introduce a low-complexity model coupling environmental and socioeconomic dynamics. With this example, we also address two common estimation problems: an unbounded state space and highly varying time scales. We show that appropriate coordinate transformations can solve these problems. It is thus demonstrated how algorithmic approaches from viability theory can be used to get a better understanding of the state space of manageable dynamical systems.

math.OC↗

arXiv2020

Macroscopic approximation methods for the analysis of adaptive networked agent-based models: The example of a two-sector investment model

In this paper, we propose a statistical aggregation method for agent-based models with heterogeneous agents that interact both locally on a complex adaptive network and globally on a market. The method combines three approaches from statistical physics: (a) moment closure, (b) pair approximation of adaptive network processes, and (c) thermodynamic limit of the resulting stochastic process. As an example of use, we develop a stochastic agent-based model with heterogeneous households that invest in either a fossil-fuel or renewables-based sector while allocating labor on a competitive market. Using the adaptive voter model, the model describes agents as social learners that interact on a dynamic network. We apply the approximation methods to derive a set of ordinary differential equations that approximate the macro-dynamics of the model. A comparison of the reduced analytical model with numerical simulations shows that the approximation fits well for a wide range of parameters. The proposed method makes it possible to use analytical tools to better understand the dynamical properties of models with heterogeneous agents on adaptive networks. We showcase this with a bifurcation analysis that identifies parameter ranges with multi-stabilities. The method can thus help to explain emergent phenomena from network interactions and make them mathematically traceable.

econ.TH↗

arXiv2019

Earth system modeling with endogenous and dynamic human societies: the copan:CORE open World-Earth modeling framework

Analysis of Earth system dynamics in the Anthropocene requires to explicitly take into account the increasing magnitude of processes operating in human societies, their cultures, economies and technosphere and their growing feedback entanglement with those in the physical, chemical and biological systems of the planet. However, current state-of-the-art Earth System Models do not represent dynamic human societies and their feedback interactions with the biogeophysical Earth system and macroeconomic Integrated Assessment Models typically do so only with limited scope. This paper (i) proposes design principles for constructing World-Earth Models (WEM) for Earth system analysis of the Anthropocene, i.e., models of social (World) - ecological (Earth) co-evolution on up to planetary scales, and (ii) presents the copan:CORE open simulation modeling framework for developing, composing and analyzing such WEMs based on the proposed principles. The framework provides a modular structure to flexibly construct and study WEMs. These can contain biophysical (e.g. carbon cycle dynamics), socio-metabolic/economic (e.g. economic growth) and socio-cultural processes (e.g. voting on climate policies or changing social norms) and their feedback interactions, and are based on elementary entity types, e.g., grid cells and social systems. Thereby, copan:CORE enables the epistemic flexibility needed for contributions towards Earth system analysis of the Anthropocene given the large diversity of competing theories and methodologies used for describing socio-metabolic/economic and socio-cultural processes in the Earth system by various fields and schools of thought. To illustrate the capabilities of the framework, we present an exemplary and highly stylized WEM implemented in copan:CORE that illustrates how endogenizing socio-cultural processes and feedbacks could fundamentally change macroscopic model outcomes.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2017

The technosphere in Earth system analysis: a coevolutionary perspective

Earth system analysis is the study of the joint dynamics of biogeophysical, social and technological processes on our planet. To advance our understanding of possible future development pathways and identify management options for navigating to safe operating spaces while avoiding undesirable domains, computer models of the Earth system are developed and applied. These models hardly represent dynamical properties of technological processes despite their great planetary-scale influence on the biogeophysical components of the Earth system and the associated risks for human societies posed, e.g., by climatic change or novel entities. In this contribution, we reflect on the technosphere from the perspective of Earth system analysis with a threefold focus on agency, networks and complex coevolutionary dynamics. First, we argue that Haff's conception of the technosphere takes an extreme position in implying a strongly constrained human agency in the Earth system. Assuming that the technosphere develops according to dynamics largely independently of human intentions, Haff's perspective appears incompatible with a humanistic view that underlies the sustainability discourse at large and, more specifically, current frameworks such as UN sustainable development goals and the safe and just operating space for humanity. Second, as an alternative to Haff's static three-stratum picture, we propose complex adaptive networks as a concept for describing the interplay of social agents and technospheric entities and their emergent dynamics for Earth system analysis. Third, we argue that following a coevolutionary approach in conceptualising and modelling technospheric dynamics, also including the socio-cultural and biophysical spheres of the Earth system, could resolve the apparent conflict between the discourses on sustainability and the technosphere.

physics.soc-ph↗