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This is an example of sensitive dependence on initial conditions. Sensitivity to initial conditions means that each point in a chaotic system is arbitrarily closely approximated by other points that have significantly different future paths or trajectories. Thus, an arbitrarily small change or perturbation of the current trajectory may lead to ...
A linear matrix difference equation of the homogeneous (having no constant term) form + = has closed form solution = predicated on the vector of initial conditions on the individual variables that are stacked into the vector; is called the vector of initial conditions or simply the initial condition, and contains nk pieces of information, n being the dimension of the vector X and k = 1 being ...
A plot of Lorenz' strange attractor for values ρ=28, σ = 10, β = 8/3. The butterfly effect or sensitive dependence on initial conditions is the property of a dynamical system that, starting from any of various arbitrarily close alternative initial conditions on the attractor, the iterated points will become arbitrarily spread out from each other.
The systems studied in chaos theory are deterministic. If the initial state were known exactly, then the future state of such a system could theoretically be predicted. However, in practice, knowledge about the future state is limited by the precision with which the initial state can be measured, and chaotic systems are characterized by a strong dependence on the initial condit
A sample solution in the Lorenz attractor when ρ = 28, σ = 10, and β = 8 / 3 The Lorenz system is a system of ordinary differential equations first studied by mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz. It is notable for having chaotic solutions for certain parameter values and initial conditions.
For example, whenever dealing with a gas of particles, it is always assumed that its initial conditions are such that there is no correlation between the states of different particles (i.e. the speeds and locations of the different particles are completely random, up to the need to conform with the macrostate of the system). This is closely ...
The situation is thus analogous to the situation in classical statistical physics. A low-entropy initial condition will, with overwhelmingly high probability, evolve into a higher-entropy state: behavior consistent with the second law of thermodynamics is typical. There are anomalous initial conditions that would give rise to violations of the ...
This is particularly useful in laser physics, where one is interested in the populations of different atomic states in a gas when a time-dependent electric field is applied. These probabilities are also useful for calculating the "quantum broadening" of spectral lines (see line broadening ) and particle decay in particle physics and nuclear ...