Ascertaining when a basin is Wada: the merging method

Trying to imagine three regions separated by a unique boundary seems a difficult task. However, this is exactly what happens in many dynamical systems showing Wada basins. Here, we present a new perspective on the Wada property: A Wada boundary is the only one that remains unaltered under the action of merging the basins. This observation allows to develop a new method to test the Wada property, which is much faster than the previous ones. Furthermore, another major advantage of the merging method is that a detailed knowledge of the dynamical system is not required

The saddle-straddle method to test for Wada basins

First conceived as a topological construction, Wada basins abound in dynamical systems. Basins of attraction showing the Wada property possess the particular feature that any small perturbation of an initial condition lying on the boundary can lead the system to any of its possible outcomes. The saddle-straddle method, described here, is a new method to identify the Wada property in a dynamical system based on the computation of its chaotic saddle in the fractalized phase space. It consists of finding the chaotic saddle embedded in the boundary between the basin of one attractor and the remaining basins of attraction by using the saddle-straddle algorithm. The simple observation that the chaotic saddle is the same for all the combinations of basins is sufficient to prove that the boundary has the Wada property

The classification of Wada-type representations of braid groups

We give a classification of Wada-type representations of the braid groups, and solutions of a variant of the set-theoretical Yang-Baxter equation adapted to the free-product group structure. As a consequence, we prove Wada's conjecture: There are only seven types of Wada-type representations up to certain symmetries.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures: Added Lemma 2.2, which was implicit in the previous version without proof and more explanation

Wada property in systems with delay

Delay differential equations take into account the transmission time of the information. These delayed signals may turn a predictable system into chaotic, with the usual fractalization of the phase space. In this work, we study the connection between delay and unpredictability, in particular we focus on the Wada property in systems with delay. This topological property gives rise to dramatical changes in the final state for small changes in the history functions

The 2-generalized knot group determines the knot

Generalized knot groups $G_n(K)$ were introduced independently by Kelly (1991) and Wada (1992). We prove that $G_2(K)$ determines the unoriented knot type and sketch a proof of the same for $G_n(K)$ for $n>2$.Comment: 4 page

Twisted Alexander polynomials and a partial order on the set of prime knots

We give a survey of some recent papers by the authors and Masaaki Wada relating the twisted Alexander polynomial with a partial order on the set of prime knots. We also give examples and pose open problems.Comment: This is the version published by Geometry & Topology Monographs on 25 February 200