During CNLD's history, we have studied many different
phenomena. The pages below sketch some of this previous
work. The interested reader is directed to our publications page
for more details on particular work.
Chaotic fluid and chemical systems were shown to be described by
strange attractors . Experiments determined the fractal
dimensions and other dynamical invariants of the attractors.
A lattice model of crack propagation predicts a jump in crack
velocity from zero to a finite value (~2km/s). A precision velocity
measurement technique was developed and used to determine velocities
with an order of magnitude higher resolution than past experiments. The
predicted velocity jump was observed. For more detail on the experiment
go to the fracture page
A laboratory experiment on a rapidly rotating flow demonstrated
that for a wide range of conditions a single persistent vortex forms in
a rapidly rotating turbulent flow. This laboratory model of the Great
Red Spot of Jupiter was discussed on a PBS Nova program.
Self-replicating spots and labyrinthine patterns were found to
form in a quasi-two-dimensional reaction-diffusion system. Similar
phenomena occur in simple mathematical models as well as in biology.
The transport of tracer particles in a Hamiltonian system (a
two-dimensional fluid flow) can be super-diffusive: the
variance of the displacement increases with time to a power greater
than unity. Statistics of the flow are given by Levy probability
distribution functions, which have long been studied by mathematicians
but not observed previously in physics.
The onset of convection in a thin layers of fluid heat from
below is marked by two distinct types of instabilities, one leading to
a hexagonal pattern and the other to a drained spot. This draining
instability is expected to be important in experiments in space on
fundamental fluid dynamics and on containerless manufacturing.
