Synergetics deals with systems composed of many subsystems which may each be of a very different nature. In particular, synergetics treats systems in which cooperation among subsystems creates organized structure on macroscopic scales (Haken 1993). Examples of problems treated by synergetics include Bifurcations, phase transitions in physics, convective instabilities, coherent oscillations in lasers, nonlinear oscillations in electrical circuits, population dynamics, etc.
See also Bifurcation, Chaos, Dynamical System
References
Synergetics
Haken, H. Synergetics, an Introduction: Nonequilibrium Phase Transitions and Self-Organization
in Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, 3rd rev. enl. ed. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1983.
Haken, H. Advanced Synergetics: Instability Hierarchies of Self-Organizing Systems and Devices.
New York: Springer-Verlag, 1993.
Mikhailov, A. S. Foundations of Synergetics: Distributed Active Systems, 2nd ed. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1994.
Mikhailov, A. S. and Loskutov, A. Y. Foundations of Synergetics II: Complex Patterns, 2nd ed., enl. rev.
New York: Springer-Verlag, 1996.