Prediction in a driven-dissipative system displaying a continuous phase transition using machine learning

Prediction in complex systems at criticality is believed to be very difficult, if not impossible. Of particular interest is whether earthquakes, whose distribution follows a power-law (Gutenberg-Richter) distribution, are in principle unpredictable. We study the predictability of event sizes in the Olmai-Feder-Christensen model at different proximities to criticality using a convolutional neural network. The distribution of event sizes satisfies a power law with a cutoff for large events. We find that predictability decreases as criticality is approached and that prediction is possible only for large, nonscaling events. Our results suggest that earthquake faults that satisfy Gutenberg-Richter scaling are difficult to forecast.