Session A6: Computational Physics in Research and Teaching: GRC Topics and Themes
8:00 AM–11:00 AM, Monday, March 16, 2009
Room: 406
Sponsoring Units:
FEd DCOMP
Chair: Wolfgang Christian, Davidson College
Abstract ID: BAPS.2009.MAR.A6.1
Abstract: A6.00001 : Unstable Periodic Orbits as a Unifying Principle in the Presentation of Dynamical Systems in the Undergraduate Physics Curriculum
8:00 AM–8:36 AM
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Author:
Bruce Boghosian
(Tufts University)
Unstable periodic orbits are a ubiquitous feature of a wide variety of dynamical systems that exhibit behavior that may be characterized as chaotic, complex or turbulent. In physics pedagogy, they may be used as a bridge to the understanding of symbolic dynamics, topological entropy and pressure, and the dynamical zeta function formalism. As high-performance scientific computation makes the application of this methodology possible to ever-larger dynamical systems, this methodology emerges as an effective way to introduce students -- from secondary school, to undergraduate education, to graduate education -- to advanced concepts in the theory of dynamical systems.
To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2009.MAR.A6.1