Module Outline (Dynamical Systems and Chaos)

Module Code Module Title Type of Module Modular Credits : : : : SM-4315 Dynamical Systems and Chaos Optional 4 Student Workload : Contact hours for timetabling : SM-2201 Ordinary Differential Equations None

8 - 10 hours/week 4 hours / week

Prerequisite Anti-requisite
Aims:

: :

Dynamics is the study of change. Dynamical systems theory describes how an interacting system of variables changes with time. This module aims to teach students the basic concepts of dynamical systems and chaos, enabling them to analyse the behaviour of dynamical systems and investigate their stability. After completing the module students should be able to apply the standard tools of non-linear stability analysis, such as phase plane sketching and bifurcation theories of one or more dimensions, including local and global bifurcation, transcritical, pitchfolk and Hopf bifurcation. The module will also introduce students to the concepts of chaos, fractals and strange attractors. Each topic shall include applications from various disciplines in the social, medical, biological and physical sciences as well as other areas. Students shall also be taught to use relevant mathematical software. Module Content: Introduction to dynamical systems. Chaos, fractals, and dynamics. The importance of nonlinearity. Example: Dynamical view of the world. One-Dimensional Flows. Geometric way of thinking, fixed points and stability, population growth, linear stability analysis, existence and uniqueness, impossibility of oscillations, potentials and solving equations using software. Bifurcations. Saddle-node bifurcation, transcritical bifurcation, laser threshold, pitchfork bifurcation, overdampedbBead on a rotating hoop, imperfect bifurcations and catastrophes. Example: Insect outbreak. Flows on the circle. Examples and definitions, uniform oscillator, nonuniform oscillator and overdamped pendulum. Example: Fireflies and superconducting Josephson junctions. Two-Dimensional Flows. Linear systems. Definitions and examples, classification of linear systems. Example: Romeo and Juliet love affairs. Phase Plane. Phase portraits, existence, uniqueness, and topological consequences, fixed points and linearization, rabbits versus sheep, conservative systems, reversible systems, pendulum and index theory Limit Cycles. Ruling out closed orbits, Poincare-Bendixson theorem, Lienard systems, relaxation oscillations, weakly nonlinear oscillators. Bifurcations revisited. Saddle-node, transcritical, and pitchfork bifurcations, Hopf bifurcations, oscillating chemical reactions, global bifurcations of cycles, hysteresis in the driven pendulum and Josephson junction, coupled oscillators and quasi-periodicity, Poincar maps. Chaos. Lorenz equations, a chaotic waterwheel, simple properties of the Lorenz equations, chaos on a strange attractor, Lorenz map and exploring the parameter space. Example: Using chaos to send secret messages. Fractals. Countable and uncountable sets, Cantor set, dimension of self-similar fractals, box dimension, pointwise and correlation dimensions. Strange Attractors. Simple examples, Hnon map, chemical chaos and attractor reconstruction, forced double-well oscillator. Use of a mathematical software package (e.g. Mathematica).

Assessment:

Examination: 60%

Course Work:40% (1 assignment 10%, 2 class tests 15% each}