The research group is characterized by a strong interdisciplinary component, having as a common ground the frequent usage of computer simulations of complex systems. These are systems with a large number of interacting units, with conflicting goals. The macroscopic behavior of a complex system is very different from that of its components. The study of complex systems is an area essentialy multidisciplinary and, as such, has very singular characteristics. The fact that its interactions have a conflicting nature, introducing a strong element of disorder, and are often assymetrical, turns them difficult to handle with analytical methods. Since the global behavior is significantly different from the local one, mean-field approximations, for instance, that are usually a strong resource in the study of systems with a large number of components, can fail dramatically in these situations. So, computer simulations appear as powerful tools in the study of these systems. On the other hand, because they involve a large number of components with interactions that may lead to disorder, computation times can become prohibitively large. The development of simplified models and the search for new simulation techniques is, in this context, both interesting and a necessity for obtaining success.

In what follows, we will describe some of the issues and research topics under current active investigation by our group.