Chaos in Nature

This book is devoted to the history of chaos theory, from celestial mechanics (three-body problem) to electronics and meteorology. Many illustrative examples of chaotic behaviors exist in various contexts found in nature (chemistry, astrophysics, biomedicine). This book includes the most popular systems from chaos theory (Lorenz, Rössler, van der Pol, Duffing, logistic map, Lozi map, Hénon map etc.) and introduces many other systems, some of them very rarely discussed in textbooks as well as in scientific papers. The contents are formulated with an original approach as compared to other books on chaos theory.

Contents:

• Preface

• Foreword by Otto E Rössler

• Foreword by Robert Gilmore

• Acknowledgments

• From Celestial Mechanics to Chaos:

  • The Laws of Dynamics
  • The Three-Body Problem
  • Simplification of the Three-Body Problem
  • The Success of Celestial Mechanics
  • Birth of the Global Analysis
  • The Stability of the Solar System

• Chaos in Nature: Properties and Examples:

  • Periodic and Chaotic Oscillators
  • From Mathematics to Electronic Circuits
  • From Meteorology to Chaos: The Second Wave
  • The Architecture of Chaotic Attractors
  • Chemical Reactions
  • Population Evolution
  • Chaotic Stars
  • Chaos in Biology and Biomedicine
  • Epilogue

• General Index

• Author Index

Readership: Advanced undergraduates and graduate students in nonlinear dynamics, and non-experts interested in chaos theory.
Key Features:

• Includes historical aspects of key contributions from Rössler, Appleton, Bethe, Lorenz, etc.
• Describes original experimental applications (electrodissolution, Belouso–Zhabotinskii reaction, thermionic diode, Lynx population in the Hudson Bay, sunspots numbers, pulsating stars ...)
• All simulations were checked and required information for reproducing them is provided (parameter values, initial conditions, equations)