Announcement  -- Please Post --  Jun 18 2007


CHAOS, AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT 

INSTRUCTOR: Predrag Cvitanović
INSTRUCTOR HOMEPAGE: www.cns.gatech.edu/~predrag
TIME: Fall semester 2007, Tu,Th 1:35-2:55
ROOM: Howey S204
EXPECTED ENROLLMENT: 15

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Graduate level introduction to modern theoretical physics and mathematics techniques for study of low-dimensional dynamical systems. The emphasis is on the interplay between the geometry and the statistical mechanics associated with the dynamics. The course has much in common with (and complements) graduate level field theory and statistical mechanics courses; partition functions and transfer operators are applied to computation of correlations and spectra of classical and quantum chaotic systems.
* Historical perspective - chaos, and what to do about it.
* Topology of flows - how to enumerate orbits, Smale horseshoes.
* Dynamics, quantitative - periodic orbits, local stability.
* Transfer operators - role of statistical distributions in dynamics.
* Thermodynamic formalism - computing measurable averages.
* Spectroscopy of chaotic systems - dynamical zeta functions.
The course is aimed at PhD students, postdoctoral fellows and advanced undergraduates in physics, mathematics, chemistry and engineering. A term project will take the place of a final exam. The term project will be individually tailored to student's level and research interests.

Even though the course description resembles some others, this course focuses on deterministic chaos, and has no resemblance - fictional or intended -- to other GT courses on chaotic, stochastic and non-equilibrium processes.

TEXT: Chaos: Classical and Quantum, available on ChaosBook.org. This sequence is the last (?) prepublication test run of the Classical Chaos of the web e-textbook. Your active participation in improving the book is very much encouraged.
COURSE HOME PAGE: ChaosBook.org/~predrag/courses/PHYS-7224-07.

START: Tuesday Aug 21, 1:35 in Howey S204