Characterization of Chaos

This opportunity is for Caltech students only

Project Title:

Project Description:

This project is the development of a graphical workshop to accompany the course Physics 161, Introduction to Chaos. In particular the project will be to develop a user-friendly front end in Visual Basic to run on Intel PC's to interface with code to calculate fractal dimensions, Lyapunov exponents, power spectra and other characterizations of chaos, as well as the graphical representation of the chaotic dynamics of differential equations and maps. The project is mainly programming, although the student will also explore the chaotic dynamics and methods of characterization for various dynamical systems.

Background Information:

Over several years I have developed numerical illustrations of chaotic dynamics to accompany an introductory course on chaos. The present interface is crude and text based. A more graphical interface would greatly enhance pedagogical use.

Literature references or articles that may provide more information on the project:

The type of physics involved is discussed in many textbooks and articles e.g. "Deterministic Chaos" by H.G. Schuster.

Requirements (skills, specific coursework, academic major, year in school, etc.):

Knowledge of Visual Basic and C or Fortran. It is not required that the student has taken Physics 161.

Research Sponsor Name: Michael Cross
E-Mail: mcc@styx.caltech.edu
Division: PMA
Telephone: 4320
Address: 114-36

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