Cooking With Chaos
One of the central insights of the chaos revolution is that a signal that appears random is not necessarily due to random, high-dimensional processes: it may have low-dimensional deterministic origins. In the 1970s, when physicists started applying new mathematical and computational tools to those physical problems for which nice algebraic solutions are impossible, they began to find chaos everywhere. Chaos is important in the understanding of solid-state lasers, nonlinear circuits, fluid mechanics, and driven nonlinear oscillators, to give a few examples. Dissipative chaotic systems can give rise to a bizarre fractal structure in phase space called a strange attractor, whose beauty has inspired a new breed of complexity researchers and artists. My talk will include demonstrations of chaotic systems, methods of analysis, surprising connections to other areas of physics, and many beautiful pictures.