CHAOS, AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
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        Georgia Tech PHYS 7224                   spring 2005
        Predrag Cvitanovic'

        Lecture 1:         9:35-10:55 Tue Jan 11 in Howey S106
        Lecture 2:         9:35-10:55 Thu Jan 13 

An overview of the reading material
-----------------------------------

That deterministic dynamics leads to chaos is no surprise to anyone who
has tried pool, billiards or snooker - that is what the game is about - so
we start our course about what is chaos and what to do about it by a game
of pinball. This might seem a trifle trivial, but a pinball is to chaotic
dynamics what a pendulum is to integrable systems: thinking clearly about
what is ``chaos'' in a pinball will help us tackle more difficult
problems, such as computing diffusion constants in deterministic gases, or
computing the Helium spectrum.

I use lots of words to give you the "big picture"  - why is this stuff
interesting and worth learning? You can sit back and relax - 2nd week we
get down to brasstacks. And remember throughout this course: if there is
something you do not understand, please stop the lecturer and ask. The
course (and the ChaosBook) is self- contained, and there is nothing in it
that you should take on faith.

Reading:
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        Classical and Quantum Chaos     ---    ChaosBook.org
        chapter 1: Overture
        appendix A (optional, for your pleasure only)


                                Predrag Cvitanovic'
                                404/385-2502  office, Howey W501A
                                404/881-6006  home
                                predrag.cvitanovic@physics.gatech.edu
                                www.cns.gatech.edu/~predrag

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