The second edition of a highly successful book on nonlinear waves, solitons and chaos.

In this book, the authors deal with basic concepts and models, with methodologies for studying the existence and stability of motions, understanding the mechanisms of formation of patterns and waves, their propagation and interactions in active lattice systems, and about how much cooperation or competition between order and chaos is crucial for synergetic behavior and evolution.

This is a text for the third semester of undergraduate physics for students in accel erated programs who typicaHy are preparing for advanced degrees in science or engineering. The third semester is often the only opportunity for physics depart ments to present to those of these students who are not physics majors a coherent background in the physics of waves required later for confident handling of applied problems, especially applications based on quantum mechanics. Physics is an integrated subject. It is often found that the going gets easier as one goes deeper, learning the mathematical connections tying together the vari ous phenomena. Even so, the steps that took us from classical wave physics to Heisenberg's "Physical Principles of Quantum Theory" were, as a matter of his tory, harder to take than later steps dealing with detailed applications. With these considerations in mind, the classical physics of oscillations and waves is devel oped here at a more advanced mathematical level than is customary in second year courses. This is done to explain the classical phenomena, but also to provide background for the introductory wave mechanics, leading to a logical integration of the latter subject into the presentation. The concluding chapters on nonlinear waves, solitons, and chaos broaden the previously established concepts of wave behavior, while introducing the reader to important topics in current wave physics.

This book is a collection of papers on the subject of nonlinear dynamics and its applications written by experts in this field. It offers the reader a sampling of exciting research areas in this fast-growing field. The topics covered include chaos, tools to analyze motions, fractal boundaries, dynamics of the Fitzhugh-Nagumo equation, structural control, separation of contaminations from signal of interest, parametric excitation, stochastic bifurcation, mode localization in repetitive structures, Toda lattice, transition from soliton to chaotic motion, nonlinear normal modes, noise perturbations of nonlinear dynamical systems, and phase locking of coupled limit cycle oscillators. Mathematical methods include Lie transforms, Monte Carlo simulations, stochastic calculus, perturbation methods and proper orthogonal decomposition. Applications include gyrodynamics, tether connected satellites, shell buckling, nonlinear circuits, volume oscillations of a large lake, systems with stick-slip friction, imperfect or disordered structures, overturning of rigid blocks, central pattern generators, flow induced oscillations, shape control and vibration suppression of elastic structures.All of these diverse contributions have a common thread: the world of nonlinear behavior. Although linear dynamics is an invaluable tool, there are many problems where nonlinear effects are essential. Some examples include bifurcation of solutions, stability of motion, the effects of large displacements, and subharmonic resonance. This book shows how nonlinear dynamics is currently being utilized and investigated. It will be of interest to engineers, applied mathematicians and physicists.

This textbook is aimed at newcomers to nonlinear dynamics and chaos, especially students taking a first course in the subject. The presentation stresses analytical methods, concrete examples, and geometric intuition. The theory is developed systematically, starting with first-order differential equations and their bifurcations, followed by phase plane analysis, limit cycles and their bifurcations, and culminating with the Lorenz equations, chaos, iterated maps, period doubling, renormalization, fractals, and strange attractors.

This textbook is an introduction to the theory of solitons in the physical sciences.

Chaos: from simple models to complex systems aims to guide science and engineering students through chaos and nonlinear dynamics from classical examples to the most recent fields of research. The first part, intended for undergraduate and graduate students, is a gentle and self-contained introduction to the concepts and main tools for the characterization of deterministic chaotic systems, with emphasis to statistical approaches. The second part can be used as a reference by researchers as it focuses on more advanced topics including the characterization of chaos with tools of information theory and applications encompassing fluid and celestial mechanics, chemistry and biology. The book is novel in devoting attention to a few topics often overlooked in introductory textbooks and which are usually found only in advanced surveys such as: information and algorithmic complexity theory applied to chaos and generalization of Lyapunov exponents to account for spatiotemporal and non-infinitesimal perturbations. The selection of topics, numerous illustrations, exercises and proposals for computer experiments make the book ideal for both introductory and advanced courses. Sample Chapter(s). Introduction (164 KB). Chapter 1: First Encounter with Chaos (1,323 KB). Contents: First Encounter with Chaos; The Language of Dynamical Systems; Examples of Chaotic Behaviors; Probabilistic Approach to Chaos; Characterization of Chaotic Dynamical Systems; From Order to Chaos in Dissipative Systems; Chaos in Hamiltonian Systems; Chaos and Information Theory; Coarse-Grained Information and Large Scale Predictability; Chaos in Numerical and Laboratory Experiments; Chaos in Low Dimensional Systems; Spatiotemporal Chaos; Turbulence as a Dynamical System Problem; Chaos and Statistical Mechanics: Fermi-Pasta-Ulam a Case Study. Readership: Students and researchers in science (physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology) and engineering.