COMPLEXITY AND GENERALIZED EXPONENTIAL RELAXATION: MEMORY VERSUS RENEWAL

Abstract

We illustrate two distinct approaches to the Mittag–Leffler relaxation, as a mathematical expression suitable for the interpretation of real data produced by complex systems, and especially those of physiological interest. The first approach is based on interpreting the fluctuation–dissipation process under study as obtained via Subordination to the Ordinary Fluctuation–Dissipation (SOFD) process. The second approach rests on the Generalized Langevin Equation (GLE). We prove that in the real cases of truncated time series the two theories generate a survival probability in the form of a stretched exponential, and that this property makes it hard to assess if a given time series obeys the GLE or the SOFD prescription. Some conjectures are made on the possibility of distinguishing the GLE from the SOFD predictions through the analysis of a single time series.