Topical Group on Statistical and Non Linear Physics Real Sociedad Espa�ola de Física imagen1 Structure of the beta-amiliod protein, responsible of degenerative diseases of the nervous system such as Parkinson and sclerosis. imagen2 Vectorial and scalar topological defects in the vector complex Ginzburg-Landau equation. Vectorial defects are surrounded by large domains while scalar defects accumulate at domain borders. imagen3 Exitable chemical reaction in a fluid stirred by a chaotic open flow. The figure shows the activator spatial distribution from a computer simulation of the process. When leaving the system, the substance traces filaments on top of the 'unstable manifold of the chaotic saddle', a fractal region produced by the fluid flow. imagen4 Complex networks allow us to represent the interactions in a complex system. For the brain functional network displayed in the figure, nodes represent small voxels of the brain, while the links indicate when two voxels are related functionally.  

NEWS!

GEFENOL

Statistical physics and non-linear physics are indispensable tools for most fields in physics, ranging from material science to cosmology. They are also, by themselves, very active and interdisciplinary areas of research, whose main goal is the study of general mechanisms explaining collective phenomena. The concepts and techniques of statistical and non-linear physics can be applied to a wide variety of systems, not only in physics and chemistry but also in biology, like cell organization or the immunological system, or socio-economics, like financial markets or social networks.

There are a significant number of groups in Spain working on statistical and non-linear physics, and many of them have reached a considerable international projection. Our more important common activity is FisEs, a national conference on the subject. There have been thirteen editions of FisEs since 1987, and each has been organized by a different institution, distributed all over Spain, with more than 150 participants and invited speakers of international standing.

As an initiative of the scientific committee of FisEs, the Topical Group on Statistical and Non-Linear Physics (Grupo Especializado de Física Estadística y No Lineal, GEFENOL) was created in 2001 within the Spanish Physical Society (Real Sociedad Española de Física, RSEF). Our main objective is to promote the statistical and non-linear physics in Spain and any scientific and academic exchange among research groups working in these disciplines.