Universality in active chaos

Many examples of chemical and biological processes take place in large-scale environmental flows. Such flows generate filamental patterns which are often fractal due to the presence of chaos in the underlying advection dynamics. In such processes, hydrodynamical stirring strongly couples into the reactivity of the advected species and might thus make the traditional treatment of the problem through partial differential equations difficult. Here we present a simple approach for the activity in inhomogeneously stirred flows. We show that the fractal patterns serving as skeletons and catalysts lead to a rate equation with a universal form that is independent of the flow, of the particle properties, and of the details of the active process. One aspect of the universality of our approach is that it also applies to reactions among particles of finite size (so-called inertial particles).     

Universality in the transition to chaos of dissipative systems

The period-doubling bifurcation process for two-dimensional transforms exhibits a new class of universality when a small dissipation is taken into account. The effective Jacobian is then defined as a function of both the dissipation and the rank n of the cascade (cycle 2ⁿ). Numerical simulations of a simple mechanical system and numerical calculations on the Hénon mapping show that the decrement lies on a continuous curve as function of the effective Jacobian. A method using this result to understand experimental data is explained and a first order approximation of the renormalization process yields an analytic expression of the curve.Among the different transitions to chaos, the period-doubling bifurcation cascade [1, 2] has been extensively studied. This transition is characterized by an experimental convergence rate of the bifurcation threshold sequence to the accumulation point: the threshold of chaos. It is well known that the decrement of this bifurcation cascade can take different values. Each value corresponds to a specific class of systems which can be characterized by some general features of the system undergoing the transition [3, 4, 5]. We are concerned here with the two values; δ(I) = 4.699… the decrement of the well-known one-dimensional transform with a quadratic maximum [2] and δ(II) = 8.721 the decrement of a two-dimensional non-dissipative transforms [3]. These two classes of systems are generic in physics and the two values δ(I) and δ(II) are therefore relevant values of the decrement. However, these two exponents stand for the infinite dissipation case and the conservative one thus leaving out the general physical situation of a finite dissipation. Only hints of the effect of a small dissipation in a two-dimensional mapping have been given [6] before the work of Zisook [7].A thorough study of the effect of dissipation is set forth here. The first two sections deal with the physical model used to perform the numerical investigation and the “experimental” data thus obtained. A study of the renormalization process enables to generalise the relation δ_n(J)=δ_n−(J²), first given by Zisook in [7], to all transforms where the Jacobian does not depend on the linearization point in the phase space. Furthermore a first order approximation gives an excellent analytic expression of the universal function displaying the crossover of the decrement between δ(II) and δ(I).     

Piecewise linear models for the quasiperiodic transition to chaos

We formulate and study analytically and computationally two families of piecewise linear degree one circle maps. These families offer the rare advantage of being non-trivial but essentially solvable models for the phenomenon of mode locking and the quasiperiodic transition to chaos. For instance, for these families, we obtain complete solutions to several questions still largely unanswered for families of smooth circle maps. Our main results describe (1) the sets of maps in these families having some prescribed rotation interval; (2) the boundaries between zero and positive topological entropy and between zero length and non-zero length rotation interval; and (3) the structure and bifurcations of the attractors in one of these families. We discuss the interpretation of these maps as low-order spline approximations to the classic "sine-circle" map and examine more generally the implications of our results for the case of smooth circle maps. We also mention a possible connection to recent experiments on models of a driven Josephson junction. (c) 1996 American Institute of Physics.     

A universal strange attractor underlying the quasiperiodic transition to chaos

We use a Monte Carlo approach to study the universal properties associated with the breakdown of two-torus attractors for arbitrary winding numbers. We demonstrate that the renormalization equations have a universal strange attractor, compute its critical exponents, and discuss its structure. The fractal dimension of this attractor is 1.8±0.1.     

Universality in quantum chaos and the one-parameter scaling theory

The one-parameter scaling theory is adapted to the context of quantum chaos. We define a generalized dimensionless conductance, g, semiclassically and then study Anderson localization corrections by renormalization group techniques. This analysis permits a characterization of the universality classes associated to a metal (g-->infinity), an insulator (g-->0), and the metal-insulator transition (g-->g(c)) in quantum chaos provided that the classical phase space is not mixed. According to our results the universality class related to the metallic limit includes all the systems in which the Bohigas-Giannoni-Schmit conjecture holds but automatically excludes those in which dynamical localization effects are important. The universality class related to the metal-insulator transition is characterized by classical superdiffusion or a fractal spectrum in low dimensions (d < or = 2). Several examples are discussed in detail.     

Universality of level spacing distributions in classical chaos

We suggest that random matrix theory applied to a matrix of lengths of classical trajectories can be used in classical billiards to distinguish chaotic from non-chaotic behavior. We consider in 2D the integrable circular and rectangular billiard, the chaotic cardioid, Sinai and stadium billiard as well as mixed billiards from the Limaçon/Robnik family. From the spectrum of the length matrix we compute the level spacing distribution, the spectral auto-correlation and spectral rigidity. We observe non-generic (Dirac comb) behavior in the integrable case and Wignerian behavior in the chaotic case. For the Robnik billiard close to the circle the distribution approaches a Poissonian distribution. The length matrix elements of chaotic billiards display approximate GOE behavior. Our findings provide evidence for universality of level fluctuations—known from quantum chaos—to hold also in classical physics.     

Multiple period-doubling bifurcation route to chaos in periodically pulsed Murali-Lakshmanan-Chua circuit-controlling and synchronization of chaos

We consider a simple nonautonomous dissipative nonlinear electronic circuit consisting of Chua's diode as the only nonlinear element, which exhibit a typical period doubling bifurcation route to chaotic oscillations. In this paper, we show that the effect of additional periodic pulses in this Murali-Lakshmanan-Chua (MLC) circuit results in novel multiple-period-doubling bifurcation behavior, prior to the onset of chaos, by using both numerical and some experimental simulations. In the chaotic regime, this circuit exhibits a rich variety of dynamical behavior including enlarged periodic windows, attractor crises, distinctly modified bifurcation structures, and so on. For certain types of periodic pulses, this circuit also admits transcritical bifurcations preceding the onset of multiple-period-doubling bifurcations. We have characterized our numerical simulation results by using Lyapunov exponents, correlation dimension, and power spectrum, which are found to be in good agreement with the experimental observations. Further controlling and synchronization of chaos in this periodically pulsed MLC circuit have been achieved by using suitable methods. We have also shown that the chaotic attractor becomes more complicated and their corresponding return maps are no longer simple for large n-periodic pulses. The above study also indicates that one can generate any desired n-period-doubling bifurcation behavior by applying n-periodic pulses to a chaotic system.     

A new route to chaos: sequences of topological torus bifurcations

We consider a sequence of topological torus bifurcations (TTBs) in a nonlinear, quasiperiodic Mathieu equation. The sequence of TTBs and an ensuing transition to chaos are observed by computing the principal Lyapunov exponent over a range of the bifurcation parameter. We also consider the effect of the sequence on the power spectrum before and after the transition to chaos. We then describe the topology of the set of knotted tori that are present before the transition to chaos. Following the transition, solutions evolve on strange attractors that have the topology of fractal braids in Poincare sections. We examine the topology of fractal braids and the dynamics of solutions that evolve on them. We end with a brief discussion of the number of TTBs in the cascade that leads to chaos.     

A conjecture on route to chaos in a hard Duffing oscillator by homoclinic entanglement

Response of a weakly damped hard Duffing oscillator, which apparently does not admit any homoclinic entanglement, is analysed. A possibility of homoclinic entanglement is conjectured that may help to understand onset of chaotic behaviour under simple harmonic excitation.     

Experimental observation of intermittent route to chaos in magnetized filamentary discharge plasma due to the cylindrical plasma bubble

We delineate an experimental observation of the effect of the magnetic field along with mesh grid biasing in the presence of a cylindrical plasma bubble in a filamentary discharge magnetised plasma system. The cylindrical mesh grid of 80% optical transparency has been negatively biased and introduced in the plasma for creating a plasma bubble. Plasma floating potential fluctuations have been taken outside (LP1) and inside (LP2) of the plasma bubble. It has been noticed that as the external magnetic field is increased the oscillation pattern shows intermittent route to chaos as the system evolved from regular type of relaxation oscillations (of larger amplitude) to an irregular type of oscillations (of smaller amplitude) We have used recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) to the observed intermittency to chaos in the plasma. The main measures of RQA are laminarity (LAM) and determinism (DET). The laminarity measure can be associated with the average time between the chaotic burst in the intermittency. It has also been observed that the DET depends on the control parameter and decreases exponentially, features like a dip in skewness and a hump in the kurtosis with the variation of control parameter have been noticed, which are the strong evidence of intermittent behaviour of the system. Further, a numerical model has been developed to the observed experimental analysis of the intermittent route to chaos.