ACC (Ton) Coolen

Professor of Applied Mathematics

Department of Mathematics, room 406
Strand Bldg, Strand campus, London WC2R 2LS
Tel: +44-20-78482235
and
Randall Division, room 2.30B
New Hunt's House, Guy's campus, London SE1 1UL
Tel: +44-20-78488172

Email: ton.coolen (to be followed by @kcl.ac.uk)
Member of the Disordered Systems Group

(pic by Jo Mieszkowski)

Research Interests:

Statistical mechanics of disordered many-particle systems,
Processes on complex networks and random graphs,
Mathematical bio-medicine

Some of my current specific research topics and projects:

• Development and application of dynamical methods (e.g. DRT, GFA) for complex many-particle systems

• Equilibrium and non-equilibrium theory of processes on complex finitely connected graphs

• Theory of (primary/secondary/tertiary) structure generation in hetero-polymers and proteins

• Calculation of the stationary state probability distribution for non-detailed balance spin systems

• Dynamics of econophysical models such as minority games (describing cooperative phenomena in markets)

• Dynamics and statics of large immune system networks in the finite connectivity regime

• Theory of cellular signaling networks, e.g. proteomic networks, gene regulatory networks, metabolic networks

I am involved (with colleagues from several units at King's) in the creation of a multidisciplinary research and teaching infrastructure, to combine and exploit local expertise at the interfaces between biology, medicine, physics, computer science and mathematics. See the Systems Biomedicine Graduate Programme for further details on the teaching side. Research activities involve e.g. the development of mathematical tools for the study of large and complex cellular signalling networks, the tailoring of random graph ensembles to biological networks, and for the extraction of information from gene arrays and biomarkers (based on Bayesian regression, information theory).

Publications:

There is a full list of my publications, and you can also find PDFs of recently published papers, either organized by year or by topic.
In addition the following (recent) preprints can be downloaded:

• P Papadopoulos and ACC Coolen
  "Theory of agent-based market models with controlled levels of greed and anxiety"
  (submitted to J. Phys. A, PDF)

• A Annibale, ACC Coolen, L Fernandes, F Fraternali and J Kleinjung
  "Tailored graph ensembles as proxies or null models for real networks I: tools for quantifying structure"
  (submitted to J. Phys. A, PDF)

• ACC Coolen and S Rabello
  "Generating functional analysis of complex formation and dissociation in large protein interaction networks"
  (to be published in Proc. IWSMI-2009, Journal of Physics Confererence Series, PDF)

Books:

• ACC Coolen
  The Mathematical Theory of Minority Games - Statistical Mechanics of Interacting Agents
  (Oxford University Press, January 2005)
  (click here for preface and detailed list of contents)

• ACC Coolen, R Kuehn and P Sollich
  Theory of Neural Information Processing Systems
  (Oxford University Press, July 2005)
  (click here for preface and detailed list of contents)

Lecture Notes:

The following (some formal, some informal) KCL lecture notes can be downloaded as PDF files:

• Course CMNN451Z: Neural Networks (updated October 1998)

• Course CMNN14: Information Theory in Neural Networks (updated September 2002)

• Course CMNN13: Statistical Mechanics of Neural Networks (updated August 1997)

• Course CMNN15: Advanced Neural Networks (updated September 2002)

• Course CM332C: Introductory Quantum Theory (updated April 2005)

• Course CM111A: Calculus 1 (updated September 2006)

• Course CM320X: Markov Chains (updated September 2009)

• Short course: Path Integral Methods in the Dynamics of Disordered Spin Systems (January 1999)

• MRes Translational Medicine: Path Integral Mathematics in 21st Century Biomedicine (Nov 2009)

Recent Seminars:

A selection of recent seminars can be downloaded as PDF or DVI files:

• Utrecht, 22 December 2003
  "The Trick Which Became a Theory: A Brief History of the Replica Method"

• Nara, 21 January, and Tokyo, 3 February 2004
  "Disordered (Soft) Spin Systems on Random Graphs with Finite Connectivity"

• Heidelberg, 1 April 2004
  "Simple Solvable Models of Primary and Secondary Structure Formation in Hetero-polymers"

• Oxford, 27 September 2004, and Amsterdam, 12 November 2004
  "Generating Functional Analysis of Minority Games with Real Market Histories"

• London, 22 March 2005
  "Collective Phenomena in Biological Systems: the Toolbox of Statistical Mechanics"

• Leiden, 25 May 2005
  "Stochastic Processes on Large Random an/or Complex Biological Networks"

• Leiden, 26 May 2005
  "Theory of Coupled Oscillators on Finitely Connected Random Networks"

• Leiden, 26 May 2005
  "Coupled Oscillators with Chiral Interactions"

• Barcelona, 3 June 2005
  "Statistical Mechanics of Signalling Processes on Complex Biological Networks"

• Leuven, 10 June 2005
  "Generating Functional Analysis of Minority Games with Inner Product Strategy Definitions"

• Leuven, 8 August 2005
  "Finitely Connected Vector Spin Systems with Random Matrix Interactions"

• Cambridge, 10 Jan 2006
  "Dynamics on Finitely Connected Random Graphs"

• Oxford, 27 Sept 2006
  "Generating Functional Analysis of Inner Product Minority Games"

• Fribourg, 8 Nov 2007
  "Applications of generating functional analysis to Minority Game models"

• Trieste, 16 Jan 2008
  "Spin models on random graphs with controlled topologies beyond degree constraints"

• Rome, 13 Feb 2008
  "A solvable model of the genesis of amino-acid sequences via coupled dynamics of folding and slow genetic variation"

• Kyoto, 16 Sep 2009
  "Generating functional analysis of complex formation and dissociation in large protein interaction networks"

• London, 21 Oct 2009
  "Protein interaction networks viewed through statistical mechanical glasses"

Present PhD Students:

• Panos Papadopoulos
  Theory of minority games and more realistic market models

Past PhD students:
Harm Jonker, Stephen Laughton, Charles Mace, Nikos Skantzos, Alexander Heimel, Hirak Chakravorty, Jon Hatchett, Theodore Nikoletopoulos, Bastian Wemmenhove, Nima Shayeghi, Sabrina Rabello, Alexander Mozeika

Other:

• Member of the IOP (Institute of Physics)

• Member of the LMS (London Mathematical Society)

• Advisory Board member of Journal of Physics A

• Member of the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications

Academic qualifications:
MSc (Theoretical Physics), Utrecht 1987
PhD (Theoretical Physics/ Biophysics), Utrecht 1990

Previous academic appointments:
Postdoctoral Research Assistent, Univ. of Utrecht and Nijmegen, 1990-91
Postdoctoral Research Assistent, Univ. of Oxford, 1991-95
Reader in Mathematics, King's College London, 1995-2000

Non-scientific activities: see my myspace music webpage

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