Based on only elementary mathematics, this engaging account of chaos theory bridges the gap between introductions for the layman and college-level texts. It develops the science of dynamics in terms of small time steps, describes the phenomenon of chaos through simple examples, and concludes with a close look at a homoclinic tangle, the mathematical monster at the heart of chaos. The presentation is enhanced by many figures, animations of chaotic motion (available on a companion CD), and biographical sketches of the pioneers of dynamics and chaos theory. To ensure accessibility to motivated high school students, care has been taken to explain advanced mathematical concepts simply, including exponentials and logarithms, probability, correlation, frequency analysis, fractals, and transfinite numbers. These tools help to resolve the intriguing paradox of motion that is predictable and yet random, while the final chapter explores the various ways chaos theory has been put to practical use.

Chaos and Dynamical Systems presents an accessible, clear introduction to dynamical systems and chaos theory, important and exciting areas that have shaped many scientific fields. While the rules governing dynamical systems are well-specified and simple, the behavior of many dynamical systems is remarkably complex. Of particular note, simple deterministic dynamical systems produce output that appears random and for which long-term prediction is impossible. Using little math beyond basic algebra, David Feldman gives readers a grounded, concrete, and concise overview. In initial chapters, Feldman introduces iterated functions and differential equations. He then surveys the key concepts and results to emerge from dynamical systems: chaos and the butterfly effect, deterministic randomness, bifurcations, universality, phase space, and strange attractors. Throughout, Feldman examines possible scientific implications of these phenomena for the study of complex systems, highlighting the relationships between simplicity and complexity, order and disorder. Filling the gap between popular accounts of dynamical systems and chaos and textbooks aimed at physicists and mathematicians, Chaos and Dynamical Systems will be highly useful not only to students at the undergraduate and advanced levels, but also to researchers in the natural, social, and biological sciences.

Dynamics of billiard balls and their role in physics have received wide attention since the monumental lecture by Lord Kelvin at the turn of the 19th century. Billiards can nowadays be created as quantum dots in the microscopic world enabling one to envisage the so-called quantum chaos, i.e. quantum manifestation of chaos of billiard balls. In fact, owing to recent progress in advanced technology, nanoscale quantum dots, such as chaotic stadium and antidot lattices analogous to the Sinai Billiard, can be fabricated at the interface of semiconductor heterojunctions. This book begins its exploration of the effect of chaotic electron dynamics on ballistic quantum transport in quantum dots with a puzzling experiment on resistance fluctuations for stadium and circle dots. Throughout the text, major attention is paid to the semiclassical theory which makes it possible to interpret quantum phenomena in the language of the classical world. Chapters one to four are concerned with the elementary statistical methods (curvature, Lyapunov exponent, Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy and escape rate), which are needed for a semiclassical description of transport in quantum dots. Chapters five to ten discuss the topical subjects in the field, including the ballistic weak localization, Altshuler-Aronov-Spivak oscillation, partial time-reversal symmetry, persistent current, Arnold diffusion and Coulomb blockade.

This is a book aimed at the student who wants to know what the excitement of chaos is all about and how it might be applied in a practical setting. With only the necessary mathematics, it treats the broad range of topics current in nonlinear dynamics today.

"Weatherall probes an epochal shift in financial strategizing with lucidity, explaining how it occurred and what it means for modern finance."--Peter Galison, author of "Einstein's Clocks, Poincare's Maps"
After the economic meltdown of 2008, many pundits placed the blame on "complex financial instruments" and the physicists and mathematicians who dreamed them up. But how is it that physicists came to drive Wall Street? And were their ideas really the cause of the collapse?
In "The Physics of Wall Street," the physicist James Weatherall answers both of these questions. He tells the story of how physicists first moved to finance, bringing science to bear on some of the thorniest problems in economics, from bubbles to options pricing. The problem isn't simply that economic models have limitations and can break down under certain conditions, but that at the time of the meltdown those models were in the hands of people who either didn't understand their purpose or didn't care. It was a catastrophic misuse of science. However, Weatherall argues that the solution is not to give up on the models but to make them better. Both persuasive and accessible, "The Physics of Wall Street" is riveting history that will change how we think about our economic future.

This book captures the excitement of the expert contributors working at the forefront of this new area of science, detailing the latest developments in the different fields; from physics to biology, chemistry, the weather, quantum mechanics, and engineering. The nature of chaos is an edited and updated version of a highly popular lecture series given in Oxford focussing on the applications of ideas from dynamical systems theory. The interdisciplinary nature of the text makes it accessible to the non-specialist but also includes the technical details often lacking in other books on chaos - making this a comprehensive, lively account of the field. ranging.

This volume sets out the basic applied mathematical and numerical methods of chaotic dynamics and illustrates the wide range of phenomena, inside and outside the laboratory, that can be treated as chaotic processes. Originally published in 1986. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

The discipline of nonlinear dynamics has developed explosively in all areas of physics. This comprehensive primer summarizes the main developments in the mathematical theory of dynamical systems, chaos, pattern formation and complexity. An introduction to mathematical concepts and techniques is given in the first part of the book, before being applied to stellar, interstellar, galactic and large scale complex phenomena in the Universe. Regev demonstrates the possible application of ideas including strange attractors, Poincare sections, fractals, bifurcations, and complex spatial patterns, to specific astrophysical problems. This self-contained text will appeal to a broad audience of astrophysicists and astronomers who wish to understand and apply modern dynamical approaches to the problems they are working on. It provides researchers and graduate students with the investigative tools they need to fully explore chaotic and complex phenomena.

Covering a broad range of topics, this text provides a comprehensive survey of the modelling of chaotic dynamics and complexity in the natural and social sciences. Its attention to models in both the physical and social sciences and the detailed philosophical approach make this an unique text in the midst of many current books on chaos and complexity. Part 1 deals with the mathematical model as an instrument of investigation. The general meaning of modelling and, more specifically, questions concerning linear modelling are discussed. Part 2 deals with the theme of chaos and the origin of chaotic dynamics. Part 3 deals with the theme of complexity: a property of the systems and of their models which is intermediate between stability and chaos. Including an extensive index and bibliography along with numerous examples and simplified models, this is an ideal course text.

An introduction to developments in chaos and related topics in nonlinear dynamics, including the detection and quantification of chaos in experimental data, fractals, and complex systems. Most of the important elementary concepts in nonlinear dynamics are discussed, with emphasis on the physical concepts and useful results rather than mathematical proofs and derivations. While many books on chaos are purely qualitative and many others are highly mathematical, this book fills the middle ground by giving the essential equations, but in the simplest possible form. It assumes only an elementary knowledge of calculus. Complex numbers, differential equations, and vector calculus are used in places, but those tools are described as required. The book is aimed at the student, scientist, or engineer who wants to learn how to use the ideas in a practical setting. It is written at a level suitable for advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students in all fields of science and engineering.

This textbook on the theory of nonlinear dynamical systems for nonmathematical advanced undergraduate or graduate students is also a reference book for researchers in the physical and social sciences. It provides a comprehensive introduction including linear systems, stability theory of nonlinear systems, bifurcation theory, chaotic dynamics. Discussion of the measure--theoretic approach to dynamical systems and the relation between deterministic systems and stochastic processes is featured. There are a hundred exercises and an associated website provides a software program, computer exercises and answers to selected book exercises.

This book provides the reader with an elementary introduction to chaos and fractals, suitable for students with a background in elementary algebra, without assuming prior coursework in calculus or physics. It introduces the key phenomena of chaos - aperiodicity, sensitive dependence on initial conditions, bifurcations - via simple iterated functions. Fractals are introduced as self-similar geometric objects and analyzed with the self-similarity and box-counting dimensions. After a brief discussion of power laws, subsequent chapters explore Julia Sets and the Mandelbrot Set. The last part of the book examines two-dimensional dynamical systems, strange attractors, cellular automata, and chaotic differential equations.
The book is richly illustrated and includes over 200 end-of-chapter exercises. A flexible format and a clear and succinct writing style make it a good choice for introductory courses in chaos and fractals.
To request a copy of the Solutions Manual, visit: http: //global.oup.com/uk/academic/physics/admin/solutions

The million-copy bestseller by National Book Award nominee and Pulitzer Prize finalist James Gleick that reveals the science behind chaos theory
National bestsellerMore than a million copies sold
A work of popular science in the tradition of Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan, this 20th-anniversary edition of James Gleick's groundbreaking bestseller "Chaos "introduces a whole new readership to chaos theory, one of the most significant waves of scientific knowledge in our time. From Edward Lorenz's discovery of the Butterfly Effect, to Mitchell Feigenbaum's calculation of a universal constant, to Benoit Mandelbrot's concept of fractals, which created a new geometry of nature, Gleick's engaging narrative focuses on the key figures whose genius converged to chart an innovative direction for science. In "Chaos," Gleick makes the story of chaos theory not only fascinating but also accessible to beginners, and opens our eyes to a surprising new view of the universe.

The previous edition of this text was the first to provide a quantitative introduction to chaos and nonlinear dynamics at the undergraduate level. It was widely praised for the clarity of writing and for the unique and effective way in which the authors presented the basic ideas. These same qualities characterize this revised and expanded second edition. Interest in chaotic dynamics has grown explosively in recent years. Applications to practically every scientific field have had a far-reaching impact. As in the first edition, the authors present all the main features of chaotic dynamics using the damped, driven pendulum as the primary model. This second edition includes additional material on the analysis and characterization of chaotic data, and applications of chaos. This new edition of Chaotic Dynamics can be used as a text for courses on chaos for physics and engineering students at the second- and third-year level.

This is a graduate text surveying both the theoretical and experimental aspects of chaotic behaviour. Over the course of the past two decades it has been discovered that relatively simple, deterministic, nonlinear mathematical models that describe dynamic phenomena in various physical, chemical, biological and other systems yield solutions which are aperiodic and depend very sensitively on the initial conditions. This phenomenon is known as deterministic chaos. The authors present chaos as a model of many seemingly random processes in nature. Basic notions from the theory of dynamical systems and bifurcation theory, together with the properties of chaotic solutions, are then described and are illustrated by examples. A review of the numerical methods used both in studies of mathematical models and in the interpretation of experimental data is also provided.

This book develops deterministic chaos and fractals from the standpoint of iterated maps, but the method of analysis and choice of emphasis make it very different from all other books in the field. It is written to provide the reader with an introduction to more recent developments, such as weak universality, multifractals, and shadowing, as well as to older subjects like universal critical exponents, devil's staircases and the Farey tree. The book is written especially for those who want clear answers to the following sorts of question: How can a deterministic trajectory be unpredictable? How can one compute nonperiodic chaotic trajectories with controlled precision? Can a deterministic trajectory be random? What are multifractals and where do they come from? What is turbulence and what has it to do with chaos and multifractals? And, finally, why is it not merely convenient, but also necessary, to study classes of iterated maps instead of differential equations when one wants predictions that are applicable to computation and experiment? Throughout the book the author uses a fully discrete method, a 'theoretical computer arithmetic', because finite (but not fixed) precision is a fact of life that cannot be avoided in computation or in experiment. This approach leads to a more general formulation in terms of symbolic dynamics and to the idea of weak universality. The author explains why continuum analysis, computer simulations, and experiments form three entirely distinct approaches to chaos theory. In the end, the connection is made with Turing's ideas of computable numbers and it is explained why the continuum approach leads to predictions that are not necessarily realized incomputations or in nature, whereas the discrete approach yields all possible histograms that can be observed or computed. This algorithmic approach to chaos, dynamics and fractals will be of great interest to graduate students, research workers and advanced undergraduates in physics, engineering and other sciences with an interest in nonlinear science.

The analysis of time series data has for many years been a central component of statistical research and practice. Although the theory of linear time series is now well established, that of non-linear time series is still a rapidly developing subject. This book, now available in paperback, is an introduction to some of these developments and the present state of research. This book is intended for statistical theoreticians applied statisticians dynamicists, engineers, and scientists.

What is time? The Janus Point offers a ground-breaking solution to one of the greatest mysteries in physics. For over a century, the greatest minds have sought to understand why time seems to flow in one direction, ever forward. In The Janus Point, Julian Barbour offers a radically new answer: it doesn't. At the heart of this book, Barbour provides a new vision of the Big Bang - the Janus Point - from which time flows in two directions, its currents driven by the expansion of the universe and the growth of order in the galaxies, planets and life itself. What emerges is not just a revolutionary new theory of time, but a hopeful argument about the destiny of our universe. 'Both a work of literature and a masterpiece of scientific thought' Lee Smolin, author of The Trouble with Physics 'Profound...original...accessible to anyone who has pondered the mysteries of space and time' Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal 'Takes on fundamental questions, offering a new perspective on how the Universe started and where it may be headed' Science Magazine

This book, the first in the Cambridge Nonlinear Science Series, presents the fundamentals of chaos theory in conservative systems, providing a systematic study of the theory of transitional states of physical systems which lie between deterministic and chaotic behaviour. The authors' treatment of transitions to chaos, the theory of stochastic layers and webs, and the numerous applications of this theory, particularly to pattern symmetry, will make the book of importance to scientists from many disciplines.The authors have been meticulous in providing a detailed presentation of the material, enabling the reader to learn the necessary computational methods and to apply them in other problems. The inclusion of a significant amount of computer graphics is also an important aid to understanding. The final section of the book contains a fascinating collection of patterns in art and living nature. The book will be of interest to graduate students and researchers in physics and mathematics who are interested in problems of chaos, irreversibility, statistical mechanics and theories of spatial patterns and symmetries. The perhaps unconventional links between chaos theory and other topics make the book particularly interesting.

This 1989 book is about chaos, fractals and complex dynamics, and is addressed to all people who have some familiarity with computers and enjoy using them. The mathematics has been kept simple, with few formulae, yet the reader is introduced to and can learn about an area of current scientific research which was scarcely possible before the availability of computers. The introduction is achieved through the extensive use of computer graphics. The book is divided into two main parts: in the first the most interesting problems are described, with, in each case, a solution in the form of a computer program. A large number of exercises enable the reader to undertake his or her own experimental work. In the second part, example programs are given for specific machines and operating systems; details refer to MS-DOC and Turbo-Pascal, UNIX 4.2 BSD with Berkley Pascal and C. Other implementations of the graphics routines are given for Apple Macintosh, Apple IIE and IIGS and Atari ST.

This 1989 book is about chaos, fractals and complex dynamics, and is addressed to all people who have some familiarity with computers and enjoy using them. The mathematics has been kept simple, with few formulae, yet the reader is introduced to and can learn about an area of current scientific research which was scarcely possible before the availability of computers. The introduction is achieved through the extensive use of computer graphics. The book is divided into two main parts: in the first the most interesting problems are described, with, in each case, a solution in the form of a computer program. A large number of exercises enable the reader to undertake his or her own experimental work. In the second part, example programs are given for specific machines and operating systems; details refer to MS-DOC and Turbo-Pascal, UNIX 4.2 BSD with Berkley Pascal and C. Other implementations of the graphics routines are given for Apple Macintosh, Apple IIE and IIGS and Atari ST.

An accessible account of systems that display a chaotic time evolution, which although determinative, reveals features more characteristic of a statistical technique known as time series analysis.

This book presents leading-edge research on artificial life, cellular automata, chaos theory, cognition, complexity theory, synchronisation, fractals, genetic algorithms, information systems, metaphors, neural networks, non-linear dynamics, parallel computation and synergetics. The unifying feature of this research is the tie to chaos and complexity.

Part of the Princeton Aeronautical Paperback series designed to bring to students and research engineers outstanding portions of the twelve-volume High Speed Aerodynamics and Jet Propulsion series. These books have been prepared by direct reproduction of the text from the original series and no attempt has been made to provide introductory material or to eliminate cross reference to other portions of the original volumes. Originally published in 1960. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Almost every scientist has heard of catastrophe theory and knows that there has been a considerable amount of controversy surrounding it. Yet comparatively few know anything more about it than they may have read in an article written for the general public. The aim of this book is to make it possible for anyone with a comparatively modest background in mathematics - no more than is usually included in a first year university course for students not specialising in the subject - to understand the theory well enough to follow the arguments in papers in which it is used and, if the occasion arises, to use it. Over half the book is devoted to applications, partly because it is not possible yet for the mathematician applying catastrophe theory to separate the analysis from the original problem. Most of these examples are drawn from the biological sciences, partly because they are more easily understandable and partly because they give a better illustration of the distinctive nature of catastrophe theory. This controversial and intriguing book will find applications as a text and guide to theoretical biologists, and scientists generally who wish to learn more of a novel theory.