Synergetik

Synergetik, or synergetics in English, is a theory of self-organization and cooperative phenomena in complex systems. It studies how macroscopic order and patterns emerge in open systems that exchange energy with their surroundings and operate far from equilibrium. The framework emphasizes the separation of time scales between fast, microscopic variables and slow, macroscopic order parameters that govern large-scale structure.

Core concepts include the slaving principle (order parameters govern the slow variables and enslave the rest), dissipative structures, and bifurcations leading to new stable states. The theory uses nonlinear dynamical equations and multiscale analysis to describe how collective behavior arises from many degrees of freedom.

History: Hermann Haken developed the theory in the 1960s-1970s, with early work inspired by laser theory and chemical and fluid systems. His books "Synergetics: An Introduction" and related papers formalized the approach.

Applications: in physics (lasers, fluid convection, oscillatory and pattern-forming systems), chemistry (oscillating reactions), biology (pattern formation, morphogenesis), neuroscience, and, by some researchers, social and economic systems. The approach influenced the broader study of complex systems and pattern formation and shares goals with dynamical systems theory and nonlinear science.

Reception: widely used as a conceptual framework, though criticized for varying mathematical rigor and predictive power; modern nonlinear dynamics and complex systems theory cover many overlapping ideas.