Center for Nonlinear Studies (CNLS)

The primary activity of the Center is conduct and support basic scientific research in nonlinear and complex systems phenomena and promote their use in applied research programs.

CNLS chooses a small number (two to three) focus topics periodically and directs a major portion of its research capabilities into these strategically important areas. The focus areas are determined by the Executive Committee, and they are chosen by taking into consideration both the Laboratory's needs for basic science relevant to mission-critical programs and the need to stay abreast of emerging and potentially important developments in complex systems research.

Current Focus Areas

Complex networks Communication Networks, Networks in Biology, Social Networks. Structure, Dynamics, and Function.	Soft condensed matter Fluid Dynamics, Granular Materials, Colloids. Theory and Simulation of Turbulent Flows.	Nonlinear phenomena Nonlinear excitations in materials. Reaction-Diffusion Systems. Nonlinear Optics and Spectroscopy. etc.

Exploratory Research Directions

Historically, CNLS played an important role in developing and supporting emerging scientific directions that later become major research areas. Examples include the turbulence theory and simulation, Lattice-Boltzmann method, computational materials science, nonlinear waves and solitons, theoretical immunology, HIV epidemiology, uncertainty quantification in complex systems, and complex networks.

Our current exploratory directions are:

• Computational molecular biology
• Agent-based systems and modeling

Popularization articles

• The turbulence problem: an experimentalist's perpective
  by Robert Ecke,
  Los Alamos Science 29, 124 (2005).
• Complex networks: the challenge of interaction topology
  by Zoltán Toroczkai,
  Los Alamos Science 29, 94 (2005).