Agent based models: learning in neural networks and emerging collective properties

• Grant number: 20/00021-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2020
• End date: February 28, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics - General Physics
• Principal Investigator: Nestor Felipe Caticha Alfonso
• Grantee: Ian Lucas Ramos de Carvalho dos Santos Pinto
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física (IF). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The student will enter into a research project that deals with (I) learning in neural networks and (II) the construction and characterization of information processing agent based models. The theoretical basis is Probability theory, Statistical Mechanics, Information Theory and Machine Learning. The methods include analytical and computational techniques. The student will deal with the construction of consensus with respect to opinions on certain sets of issues and the dynamics of opinions. He will work with mathematical models and compare theoretical predictions for model societies with large ethnographic data banks. An example of a specific application to be dealt with is studying the interaction of the social hierarchical organization and the use of universal means of exchange, which is of the emergence of money.