Nonlinear dynamics: Chaos, and what to do about it?

INSTRUCTOR: Predrag Cvitanović
INSTRUCTOR HOMEPAGE: www.cns.gatech.edu/~predrag
TIME: Fall semester 2008, Tu,Th 12:05-1:25
ROOM: Howey S204
EXPECTED ENROLLMENT: 15

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
An introduction to chaotic dynamics, with emphasis on applications to chaotic dynamical systems encountered in science and engineering. The theory has much in common with (and complements) statistical mechanics and field theory courses; partition functions and transfer operators are applied to computation of correlations and spectra of classical chaotic systems.

Topology of flows - how to enumerate orbits, Smale horseshoes

Dynamics, quantitative - periodic orbits, local stability

Transfer operators - statistical distributions in dynamics

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.

TEXTBOOK:

P. Cvitanović et al., ChaosBook.org
This course is a pre- publication test run of the Part I of e-textbook. Your active participation in improving the book is very much encouraged.

START:

Tuesday Aug 19 2008, 12:05 in Howey S204,
with detailed schedule and reading assignments posted on

COURSE HOME PAGE:

ChaosBook.org/~predrag/courses/PHYS-7224-08