"...a blend of erudition (fascinating and sometimes obscure historical minutiae abound), popularization (mathematical rigor is relegated to appendices) and exposition (the reader need have little knowledge of the fields involved) ...and the illustrations include many superb examples of computer graphics that are works of art in their own right." Nature

The Fractal Geometry of Nature

Detecting strange attractors in turbulence

Certain subsystems of nonlinear, chaotic systems can be made to synchronize by linking them with common signals. The criterion for this is the sign of the sub-Lyapunov exponents. We apply these ideas to a real set of synchronizing chaotic circuits.

Synchronization in chaotic systems

/pdf/determining-lyapunov-exponents-from-a-time-series-3bxxq6d0wt.pdf

Determining Lyapunov exponents from a time series

A comprehensive review of spatiotemporal pattern formation in systems driven away from equilibrium is presented, with emphasis on comparisons between theory and quantitative experiments. Examples include patterns in hydrodynamic systems such as thermal convection in pure fluids and binary mixtures, Taylor-Couette flow, parametric-wave instabilities, as well as patterns in solidification fronts, nonlinear optics, oscillatory chemical reactions and excitable biological media. The theoretical starting point is usually a set of deterministic equations of motion, typically in the form of nonlinear partial differential equations. These are sometimes supplemented by stochastic terms representing thermal or instrumental noise, but for macroscopic systems and carefully designed experiments the stochastic forces are often negligible. An aim of theory is to describe solutions of the deterministic equations that are likely to be reached starting from typical initial conditions and to persist at long times. A unified description is developed, based on the linear instabilities of a homogeneous state, which leads naturally to a classification of patterns in terms of the characteristic wave vector q0 and frequency ω0 of the instability. Type Is systems (ω0=0, q0≠0) are stationary in time and periodic in space; type IIIo systems (ω0≠0, q0=0) are periodic in time and uniform in space; and type Io systems (ω0≠0, q0≠0) are periodic in both space and time. Near a continuous (or supercritical) instability, the dynamics may be accurately described via "amplitude equations," whose form is universal for each type of instability. The specifics of each system enter only through the nonuniversal coefficients. Far from the instability threshold a different universal description known as the "phase equation" may be derived, but it is restricted to slow distortions of an ideal pattern. For many systems appropriate starting equations are either not known or too complicated to analyze conveniently. It is thus useful to introduce phenomenological order-parameter models, which lead to the correct amplitude equations near threshold, and which may be solved analytically or numerically in the nonlinear regime away from the instability. The above theoretical methods are useful in analyzing "real pattern effects" such as the influence of external boundaries, or the formation and dynamics of defects in ideal structures. An important element in nonequilibrium systems is the appearance of deterministic chaos. A greal deal is known about systems with a small number of degrees of freedom displaying "temporal chaos," where the structure of the phase space can be analyzed in detail. For spatially extended systems with many degrees of freedom, on the other hand, one is dealing with spatiotemporal chaos and appropriate methods of analysis need to be developed. In addition to the general features of nonequilibrium pattern formation discussed above, detailed reviews of theoretical and experimental work on many specific systems are presented. These include Rayleigh-Benard convection in a pure fluid, convection in binary-fluid mixtures, electrohydrodynamic convection in nematic liquid crystals, Taylor-Couette flow between rotating cylinders, parametric surface waves, patterns in certain open flow systems, oscillatory chemical reactions, static and dynamic patterns in biological media, crystallization fronts, and patterns in nonlinear optics. A concluding section summarizes what has and has not been accomplished, and attempts to assess the prospects for the future.

/pdf/pattern-formation-outside-of-equilibrium-1601b9znum.pdf

Pattern formation outside of equilibrium

Spectral properties of a class of operators associated with maps in one dimension

Under general assumptions we give upper bounds, proportional to the volume of the domain, on the temporal and spatial complexity of solutions to systems of reaction-diffusion equations. The notions of complexity measure instantaneous rather than asymptotic complexity, but time averaged versions of the estimates give bounds on entropy and Hausdorff dimension of any attracting set. The techniques involve the use of quantum mechanical estimates to bound the growth rates of small perturbations.

Bounds on complexity in reaction-diffusion systems

We consider the asymptotic normalcy of families of random variables $X$ which count the number of occupied sites in some large set. We write $Prob(X=m)=p_mz_0^m/P(z_0)$, where $P(z)$ is the generating function $P(z)=\sum_{j=0}^{N}p_jz^j$ and $z_0>0$. We give sufficient criteria, involving the location of the zeros of $P(z)$, for these families to satisfy a central limit theorem (CLT) and even a local CLT (LCLT); the theorems hold in the sense of estimates valid for large $N$ (we assume that $Var(X)$ is large when $N$ is). For example, if all the zeros lie in the closed left half plane then $X$ is asymptotically normal, and when the zeros satisfy some additional conditions then $X$ satisfies an LCLT. We apply these results to cases in which $X$ counts the number of edges in the (random) set of "occupied" edges in a graph, with constraints on the number of occupied edges attached to a given vertex. Our results also apply to systems of interacting particles, with $X$ counting the number of particles in a box $\Lambda$ whose size approaches infinity; $P(z)$ is then the grand canonical partition function and its zeros are the Lee-Yang zeros.

Central limit theorems, Lee-Yang zeros, and graph-counting polynomials

A dynamical zeta function $\zeta$ and a transfer operator $\scr L$ are associated with a piecewise monotone map $f$ of the interval $[0,1]$ and a weight function $g$. The analytic properties of $\zeta$ and the spectral properties of $\scr L$ are related by a theorem of Baladi and Keller under an assumption of ``generating partition''. It is shown here how to remove this assumption and, in particular, extend the theorem of Baladi and Keller to the case when $f$ has negative Schwarzian derivative.

/pdf/dynamical-zeta-functions-for-maps-of-the-interval-2ih10a3qb3.pdf

Dynamical zeta functions for maps of the interval

https://www.quantware.ups-tlse.fr/dima/myrefs/myp19phtod.pdf

David Ruelle

Papers

Spectral properties of a class of operators associated with maps in one dimension

Bounds on complexity in reaction-diffusion systems

Central limit theorems, Lee-Yang zeros, and graph-counting polynomials

Dynamical zeta functions for maps of the interval

Early chaos theory