Dear Colleagues,

Complex systems surround us at very different scales, from biomolecules and living cells to human socioeconomic systems and up to geophysical and ecological networks. Typically, they show dissipative structures induced by inherent nonlinear and non-equilibrium interactions and stabilized by the exchange of energy, matter, and information with their surroundings. These dynamical processes often involve some form of noise that, instead of representing an annoying disturbance, turns out to be a fundamental ingredient for the emergence of complex dynamics and an increase in the efficiency of the system behavior or in its performance toward achieving some task or to implement a desired protocol.

Many examples of such a beneficial role of noise can be found in physics and biology, where – among others – we may cite noise-assisted quantum phenomena, stochastic resonance, noise-enhanced stability, induced second-order-like phase transitions, enhanced diffusion in communication networks, noise-enhanced ordering, noise-assisted excitation transport in light-harvesting complexes for natural photosynthesis, information transfer in bistable and excitable systems and in quantum channels, and improved performance in neural activity, cognitive processes, or signal detection. However, also at the socioeconomic level have random strategies been demonstrated to be very successful in enhancing the efficiency of many systems in the context of game-theory, management of hierarchical organizations, political institutions, and financial markets.

For this Special Issue, we would like to collect examples of complex phenomena in different contexts and at any hierarchical level where noise or randomness can play a fundamental role in increasing the performance of the system.

Prof. Dr. Alessandro Pluchino
Prof. Dr. Andrea Rapisarda
Prof. Dr. Filippo Caruso
Guest Editors

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• complex systems
• noise-enhanced dynamics
• noisy quantum systems
• quantum information
• complex networks
• biological systems
• random strategies
• social and economic sciences