Chaotic Dynamics

Near the point of tangent bifurcation, the scaling properties of the laminar length of type-I intermittency are investigated in the presence of noise. Based on analytic and numerical studies, we show that the scaling relation of the laminar length is dramatically deformed from 1 ϵ √ for ϵ>0 to exp{ 1 D |ϵ | 3/2 } for ϵ<0 as ϵ passes the bifurcation point (ϵ=0) . The results explain why two coupled Rössler oscillators exhibit deformation of the scaling relation of the synchronous length in the nearly synchronous regime.

We study the probability densities of finite-time or \local Lyapunov exponents (LLEs) in low-dimensional chaotic systems. While the multifractal formalism describes how these densities behave in the asymptotic or long-time limit, there are significant finite-size corrections which are coordinate dependent. Depending on the nature of the dynamical state, the distribution of local Lyapunov exponents has a characteristic shape. For intermittent dynamics, and at crises, dynamical correlations lead to distributions with stretched exponential tails, while for fully-developed chaos the probability density has a cusp. Exact results are presented for the logistic map, x→4x(1−x) . At intermittency the density is markedly asymmetric, while for `typical' chaos, it is known that the central limit theorem obtains and a Gaussian density results. Local analysis provides information on the variation of predictability on dynamical attractors. These densities, which are used to characterize the {\sl nonuniform} spatial organization on chaotic attractors are robust to noise and can therefore be measured from experimental data.

Recently Watts and Strogatz have given an interesting model of small-world networks. Here we concretise the concept of a ``far away'' connection in a network by defining a {\it far edge}. Our definition is algorithmic and independent of underlying topology of the network. We show that it is possible to control spread of an epidemic by using the knowledge of far edges. We also suggest a model for better advertisement using the far edges. Our findings indicate that the number of far edges can be a good intrinsic parameter to characterize small-world phenomena.

Methods to quantify predictability properties of atmospheric flows are proposed. The ``Extended Self Similarity'' (ESS) technique, recently employed in turbulence data analysis, is used to characterize predictability properties at short and long times. We apply our methods to the low-order atmospheric model of Lorenz (1980). We also investigate how initialization procedures that eliminate gravity waves from the model dynamics influence predictability properties.

We study the response of the quasi-energy levels in the context of quantized chaotic systems through the level velocity variance and relate them to classical diffusion coefficients using detailed semiclassical analysis. The systematic deviations from random matrix theory, assuming independence of eigenvectors from eigenvalues, is shown to be connected to classical higher order time correlations of the chaotic system. We study the standard map as a specific example, and thus the well known oscillatory behavior of the diffusion coefficient with respect to the parameter is reflected exactly in the oscillations of the variance of the level velocities. We study the case of mixed phase-space dynamics as well and note a transition in the scaling properties of the variance that occurs along with the classical transition to chaos.

We study classical and quantum dynamics of a particle in a circular billiard with a straight cut. This system can be integrable, nonintegrable with soft chaos, or nonintegrable with hard chaos, as we vary the size of the cut. We use a quantum web to show differences in the quantum manifestations of classical chaos for these three different regimes.

We study the emergence of Boltzmann's law for the "single particle energy distribution" in a closed system of interacting classical spins. It is shown that for a large number of particles Boltzmann's law may occur, even if the interaction is very strong. Specific attention is paid to classical analogs of the average shape of quantum eigenstates and "local density of states", which are very important in quantum chaology. Analytical predictions are then compared with numerical data.

Periodic orbits are the central ingredients of modern semiclassical theories and corrections to these are generally non-classical in origin. We show here that for the class of generic polygonal billiards, the corrections are predominantly classical in origin owing to the contributions from closed almost-periodic (CAP) orbit families. Furthermore, CAP orbit families outnumber periodic families but have comparable weights. They are hence indispensable for semiclassical quantization.

A procedure to predict the occurrence of periodic clusters in a system of globally coupled maps displaying a constant mean field is presented. The method employs the analogy between a system of globally coupled maps and a single map driven by a constant force. By obtaining the asymptotic orbits of the driven map, an associated coupling function can be constructed. This function allows to establish a direct connection between both systems. Some applications are shown.

We consider inertial particles suspended in an incompressible turbulent flow. Due to inertia of particles, their velocity field acquires small compressible component. Its presence leads to a new qualitative effect --- possibility of clustering. We show that this effect is significant for heavy particles, leading to strong fluctuations of the concentration.