EVENT DETAILS AND ABSTRACT

Title: Homological Characterization of Spiral Defect Chaos
Speaker: Prof. Michael F. Schatz
Speaker Info: Center for Nonlinear Science and School of Physics, Georgia Tech
Brief Description:
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Abstract:

Algebraic topology (homology) is used to analyze the weakly turbulent state of spiral defect chaos in both laboratory experiments and numerical simulations of Rayleigh-Benard convection. The analysis reveals topological asymmetries that arise when non-Boussinesq effects are present. The asymmetries are found in different flow fields in the simulations and are robust to substantial alterations to flow visualization conditions in the experiment. However, the asymmetries are observable using conventional statistical measures. These results suggest homology may provide a new and general approach for connecting spatio-temporal observations of chaotic or turbulent patterns to theoretical models.