Paper: A Logical Characterization of Individual-Based Models (at LICS 2008)

Authors: James F. Lynch

Abstract

Individual-based models are a relatively new approach to modelling dynamicalsystems of interacting entities, for example molecules in a biological cell. Although they are computationally expensive, they have the capability of modelling systems more realistically than traditional state-variable models. We give a formal definition of individual-based models, which includes state-variable models as a special case. We examine the questions of when state-variable models are sufficient for accurate modelling of a system, and when individual-based models are necessary. We define notions of abstraction and approximation, and give sufficient conditions that imply that an individual-based model can be approximated by a deterministic state-variable model. We also give negative results: examples of individual-based models that cannot be approximated by any state-variable model.

BibTeX

  @InProceedings{Lynch-ALogicalCharacteriz,
    author = 	 {James F. Lynch},
    title = 	 {A Logical Characterization of Individual-Based Models},
    booktitle =  {Proceedings of the Twenty-Third Annual IEEE Symposium on Logic in Computer Science (LICS 2008)},
    year =	 {2008},
    month =	 {June}, 
    pages =      {379--390},
    location =   {Pittsburgh, PA, USA}, 
    publisher =	 {IEEE Computer Society Press}
  }