Hermann Haken: From the Laser to Synergetics: A Scientific Biography of the Early Years

317 Pages·3.931 MB·English

by  Bernd Kröger

Bernd Kröger
Hermann Haken:
From
the Laser

to

Synergetics
A SCIENTIFIC
BIOGRAPHY
OF THE EARLY
YEARS
123
Hermann Haken: From the Laser to Synergetics
Bernd Kröger
Hermann Haken:
From the Laser
to Synergetics
A Scientific Biography
of the Early Years
ABC
BerndKröger
Tübingen
Germany
ISBN978-3-319-11688-4 ISBN978-3-319-11689-1 (eBook)
DOI10.1007/978-3-319-11689-1
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2014949170
SpringerChamHeidelbergNewYorkDordrechtLondon
(cid:2)c SpringerInternationalPublishingSwitzerland2015
Thisworkissubjecttocopyright.AllrightsarereservedbythePublisher,whetherthewholeorpartof
thematerialisconcerned,specificallytherightsoftranslation,reprinting,reuseofillustrations,recitation,
broadcasting,reproductiononmicrofilmsorinanyotherphysicalway,andtransmissionorinformation
storageandretrieval,electronicadaptation,computersoftware,orbysimilarordissimilarmethodology
nowknownorhereafterdeveloped.
Theuseofgeneraldescriptivenames,registerednames,trademarks,servicemarks,etc.inthispublication
doesnotimply,evenintheabsenceofaspecificstatement,thatsuchnamesareexemptfromtherelevant
protectivelawsandregulationsandthereforefreeforgeneraluse.
Thepublisher,theauthorsandtheeditorsaresafetoassumethattheadviceandinformationinthisbook
arebelievedtobetrueandaccurateatthedateofpublication.Neitherthepublishernortheauthorsor
theeditorsgiveawarranty,expressorimplied,withrespecttothematerialcontainedhereinorforany
errorsoromissionsthatmayhavebeenmade.
Printedonacid-freepaper
SpringerInternationalPublishingAGSwitzerlandispartofSpringerScience+BusinessMedia
(www.springer.com)
Contents
Tables and Figures ........................................................................................ IX
1 Introduction ............................................................................................ 1
2 Hermann Haken: Youth and University Education ............................ 9
3 The Erlangen Years: Solid State Physics 1950 – 1960 ......................... 17
4 Appointment to the Theoretical Physics Chair at the Technical
University Stuttgart ................................................................................ 37
5 Hermann Haken and the “Stuttgart School” 1960 – 1970: Their
Contribution to the Development of Laser Theory ............................. 47
5.1 General Introduction to the History of the Laser ............................. 47
5.2 From Maser to Laser177 ................................................................... 48
5.3 Semi-classical Laser Theory Until 1964 ......................................... 57
5.4 The Crucial Role of Laser Conferences .......................................... 59
5.5 The Fully Quantum Mechanical Laser Theory ............................... 66
5.6 Hermann Haken and the Stuttgart School ....................................... 82
5.7 Synopsis of Laser Theory in Book Form; ca. 1970 ......................... 94
5.8 Summary of Laser Theory............................................................... 97
6 Early Years of Synergetics: 1970 – 1978 .............................................. 101
6.1 The Versailles Conferences from 1967 to 1979 .............................. 101
6.2 The Foundation of Synergetics: Analogies and Phase
Transition ........................................................................................ 108
6.3 The UMSCHAU-Article of 1971 .................................................... 116
6.4 The First ELMAU-Synergetics Conference 1972 ........................... 119
6.5 The Startling Discovery of a Common Mathematical Basis:
Laser – Bénard-Effect – Brusselator ............................................... 125
6.6 The “Lorenz – Equations” ............................................................... 135
6.7 The Synergetics Book, 1977 ........................................................... 144
VI Contents

6.8 The Second ELMAU Conference May, 1977 ................................. 150
7 The Propagation of Synergetics: 1978 – 1987 ...................................... 153
7.1 Synergetics: “Spreading the Word” ................................................ 153
7.2 Synergetics – Priority Program of the Volkswagenwerk
Foundation ...................................................................................... 162
7.3 Research Activities of the Stuttgart Synergetics School ................. 170
7.4 The ELMAU Conferences of 1979 and 1980 .................................. 178
7.5 The ELMAU Conferences on Chaos Theory, 1981 and 1982......... 180
7.6 The Textbook “Advanced Synergetics”, 1978 ................................ 185
7.7 The Book Series: Springer Series in Synergetics ............................ 190
8 Synergetics 1987 – 2010: Applications in Medicine, Cognition
and Psychology – A Survey .................................................................... 193
8.1 The Sixth ELMAU Conference 1983: Synergetics
of the Brain ...................................................................................... 193
8.2 Cooperation with Scott Kelso ......................................................... 197
8.3 Application of Synergetics to Brain Research ................................. 201
8.4 Pattern Recognition in the Visual System and by Synergetic
Computer ......................................................................................... 202
8.5 Synergetics in Psychology .............................................................. 206
9 Theories of Self-organization: The Role of Synergetics ...................... 211
9.1 The Systems-Theoretical or Cybernetic Approach ......................... 213
9.2 Autopoiesis and Self-referentiality .................................................. 217
9.3 The Theory of Autocatalytic Hypercycles ...................................... 218
9.4 The Theory of Dissipative Systems ................................................. 222
10 Summary ................................................................................................. 229
Bibliography .................................................................................................. 245
Appendices
Appendix 1: Bibliography of Hermann Haken‘s Works ................................ 263
Appendix 2: List of Hermann Haken’s Students and Their Diploma
Thesis and Dissertations ................................................................................. 293
:
Appendix 3 Springer Series in Synergetics:

(Senior Editor: Hermann Haken) ................................................................... 301
Contents VII

Appendix 4: Participants that Attended the ELMAU Conferences as
Well as the Versailles Conferences ................................................................ 305
Appendix 5: List of Honours Bestowed on Hermann Haken ......................... 309
Name Index ................................................................................................... 313
Tables and Figures
Table 1: Quantity of Haken‘s publications during the years from 1950 to 1990,
sorted by subject (10-year periods).
Table 2: Mentioning of Hermann Haken in the university calendars of the
University of Erlangen from the winter term 1952/53 until the winter
term 1959/60.
Table 3: Articles published by Melvin Lax and co-workers on the theory of
laser and noise.
Table 4: Chronological order of publication dates of the articles on quantum-
mechanical laser theory by the three laser schools of Hermann Haken,
Willis Lamb and Melvin Lax.
Table 5: List of the publications of the Stuttgart School concerning Laser
Theory during the years 1963 – 1970.
Table 6: Synergetic systems and their order parameters compared by Hermann
Haken at the first ELMAU Conference.
Table 7: Analogies between the laser and the Bénard instability.
Table 8: List of topics at the second ELMAU Conference 1977.
Table 9: Lectures and seminars held by Hermann Haken at the University of
Stuttgart during the years 1975 to 1985, according to the university
calendars.
Table 10: Topical list of subjects of the 11 ELMAU Conferences, 1972 till 1990.
Table 11: Examples of synergetic systems: comparison from three different
books of Hermann Haken (years 1972, 1977 and 1983).
Table 12: Thematic and editorial classification of the seventy-seven volumes of
“Springer Series in Synergetics” that were published while Haken was
series editor.
Table 13: Formal analogy between the laser and the brain.
Table 14: Differences and similarities of Synergetics with other fields of
knowledge.
Figures
Fig. 1: Theories that determine the structure of Synergetics and the resulting
applications of synergetics in different scientific fields.
Fig. 2: Recommendations concerning the number of chairs in mathematics and
physics at the Technische Hochschule Stuttgart, according to the science
advisory board proposal.
Fig 3: Principle of the maser.
Fig. 4: Principle of the stimulated emission process.
Fig. 5: “Lamb-Dip“. Typical reduction of laser intensity, depending on the
frequency.
Fig. 6: Behaviour of the potential below and above laser threshold for linear and
non-linear theories.
Fig. 7: Relative intensity fluctuation ρ measured for the strongest mode versus
injected current J.
Fig. 8: Representation of the mathematical treatment of the quantum-mechanical
laser theory. All three possible methods had been dealt with by the
Stuttgart School.
Fig. 9: Haken’s survey on the increasing correctness of the different approaches
to laser theory and the parameters that could be determined and checked
experimentally.
Fig. 10: Graphical display of the laser potential below and above threshold.
Fig. 11: Plot of the potential behaviour below and above laser threshold.
Fig. 12: Comparison of the mathematical structure of the laser with the basic
notions of the Ginzburg-Landau theory of super-conductivity.
Fig. 13: Examples on the realisation of abstract synergetics concepts.
Fig. 14: Examples of master equations in physics, chemistry and biology.
Fig. 15: Cell structure (Bénard rolls) of the Bénard instability.
Fig. 16: Graphic representation of the numerical values of the so-called Lorenz-
attractor.
Fig. 17: The identical mathematical structure of the Lorenz equations of
hydrodynamics and the ones for the laser.
Fig. 18: Number of Haken’s publications classified by topic (2 year survey).
Fig. 19: Topics of diploma and doctoral thesis at Haken’s institute ranked by year
of publication.
Fig. 20: Logical structure by chapter of the book “Synergetics – an Introduction”.
Figures XI

Fig. 21: Representation of the potential representing equation (9) (see text) for
different values of γ
Fig. 22: Self-organising feedback of a synergetic system.
Fig. 23: Shapes of potentials that allow for a change into different stable
configurations to perform the change fluctuations as needed.
Fig. 24: Diagram representing the passage from an “old” structure to a stable
“new” one.
Fig. 25: Bifurcation pattern of the single mode laser depending on the pump
strength. The first step denotes the onset of laser activity; the second step
gives rise to laser pulses; even higher pump energy leads to chaotic
behaviour and the ”strange” Lorenz attractor.
Fig. 26: Flow pattern of a plasma in a vertical magnetic field that is heated from
beneath.
Fig. 27: Seashell pattern compared to a computer generated pattern according to
the Gierer-Meinhardt model (© Hans Meinhardt).
Fig. 28: Analogy between pattern formation and pattern recognition.
Fig. 29: Four different “roads to chaos”, assumed by different authors. At point R
n
phase transition takes place and the system adopts a new stable state.
Fig. 30: Period-doubling in the Bénard experiment – experimental confirmation
by Libchaber and Maurer.
Fig 31: Logical structure of Haken’s textbook ”Advanced Synergetics” from
1983.
Fig. 32: The structure of synergetics according to Herrmann Haken.
Fig. 33: Transcription of Figure 32.
Fig. 34: Different dynamic radiation characteristics of the laser.
Fig. 35: Two EEG-measurements:
a) Sane person in process of “normal“ thinking; b) Epileptic seizure.
Fig. 36: The finger movement coordination experiment by Kelso.
Fig. 37: Potential describing the transition of the finger movement.
Fig. 38: An illustration of bi-stable figures used by Hermann Haken.
Fig. 39: Example of visual hysteresis.
Fig. 40: Potential applying to figure 39.
Fig. 41: Proceeding from physics to psychology.
Fig. 42: The autocatalytic hypercycle.