Fractal asymptotics

Recent advances in the periodic orbit theory of stochastically perturbed systems have permitted a calculation of the escape rate of a noisy chaotic map to order 64 in the noise strength. Comparison with the usual asymptotic expansions obtained from integrals and with a previous calculation of the electrostatic potential of exactly selfsimilar fractal charge distributions, suggests a remarkably accurate form for the late terms in the expansion, with parameters determined independently from the fractal repeller and the critical point of the map. Two methods give a precise meaning to the asymptotic expansion, Borel summation and Shafer approximants. These can then be compared with the escape rate as computed by alternative methods.Comment: 15 pages, 5 postscript figures incorporated into the text; v2: Quadratic Pade (Shafer) method added, also a few reference

Entire Fredholm determinants for Evaluation of Semi-classical and Thermodynamical Spectra

Proofs that Fredholm determinants of transfer operators for hyperbolic flows are entire can be extended to a large new class of multiplicative evolution operators. We construct such operators both for the Gutzwiller semi-classical quantum mechanics and for classical thermodynamic formalism, and introduce a new functional determinant which is expected to be entire for Axiom A flows, and whose zeros coincide with the zeros of the Gutzwiler-Voros zeta function.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex + one PS figure attached to the end of the text cut before you run revtex

Unstable recurrent patterns in Kuramoto-Sivashinsky dynamics

We undertake a systematic exploration of recurrent patterns in a 1-dimensional Kuramoto-Sivashinsky system. For a small, but already rather turbulent system, the long-time dynamics takes place on a low-dimensional invariant manifold. A set of equilibria offers a coarse geometrical partition of this manifold. A variational method enables us to determine numerically a large number of unstable spatiotemporally periodic solutions. The attracting set appears surprisingly thin - its backbone are several Smale horseshoe repellers, well approximated by intrinsic local 1-dimensional return maps, each with an approximate symbolic dynamics. The dynamics appears decomposable into chaotic dynamics within such local repellers, interspersed by rapid jumps between them.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure

Visualizing the geometry of state space in plane Couette flow

Motivated by recent experimental and numerical studies of coherent structures in wall-bounded shear flows, we initiate a systematic exploration of the hierarchy of unstable invariant solutions of the Navier-Stokes equations. We construct a dynamical, 10^5-dimensional state-space representation of plane Couette flow at Re = 400 in a small, periodic cell and offer a new method of visualizing invariant manifolds embedded in such high dimensions. We compute a new equilibrium solution of plane Couette flow and the leading eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of known equilibria at this Reynolds number and cell size. What emerges from global continuations of their unstable manifolds is a surprisingly elegant dynamical-systems visualization of moderate-Reynolds turbulence. The invariant manifolds tessellate the region of state space explored by transiently turbulent dynamics with a rigid web of continuous and discrete symmetry-induced heteroclinic connections.Comment: 32 pages, 13 figures submitted to Journal of Fluid Mechanic

Revealing the state space of turbulent pipe flow by symmetry reduction

Symmetry reduction by the method of slices is applied to pipe flow in order to quotient the stream-wise translation and azimuthal rotation symmetries of turbulent flow states. Within the symmetry-reduced state space, all travelling wave solutions reduce to equilibria, and all relative periodic orbits reduce to periodic orbits. Projections of these solutions and their unstable manifolds from their $\infty$-dimensional symmetry-reduced state space onto suitably chosen 2- or 3-dimensional subspaces reveal their interrelations and the role they play in organising turbulence in wall-bounded shear flows. Visualisations of the flow within the slice and its linearisation at equilibria enable us to trace out the unstable manifolds, determine close recurrences, identify connections between different travelling wave solutions, and find, for the first time for pipe flows, relative periodic orbits that are embedded within the chaotic attractor, which capture turbulent dynamics at transitional Reynolds numbers.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figure

Trace formula for noise corrections to trace formulas

We consider an evolution operator for a discrete Langevin equation with a strongly hyperbolic classical dynamics and Gaussian noise. Using an integral representation of the evolution operator we investigate the high order corrections to the trace of arbitary power of the operator. The asymptotic behaviour is found to be controlled by sub-dominant saddle points previously neglected in the perturbative expansion. We show that a trace formula can be derived to describe the high order noise corrections.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Accelerating cycle expansions by dynamical conjugacy

Periodic orbit theory provides two important functions---the dynamical zeta function and the spectral determinant for the calculation of dynamical averages in a nonlinear system. Their cycle expansions converge rapidly when the system is uniformly hyperbolic but greatly slowed down in the presence of non-hyperbolicity. We find that the slow convergence can be associated with singularities in the natural measure. A properly designed coordinate transformation may remove these singularities and results in a dynamically conjugate system where fast convergence is restored. The technique is successfully demonstrated on several examples of one-dimensional maps and some remaining challenges are discussed

The role of singularities in chaotic spectroscopy

We review the status of the semiclassical trace formula with emphasis on the particular types of singularities that occur in the Gutzwiller-Voros zeta function for bound chaotic systems. To understand the problem better we extend the discussion to include various classical zeta functions and we contrast properties of axiom-A scattering systems with those of typical bound systems. Singularities in classical zeta functions contain topological and dynamical information, concerning e.g. anomalous diffusion, phase transitions among generalized Lyapunov exponents, power law decay of correlations. Singularities in semiclassical zeta functions are artifacts and enters because one neglects some quantum effects when deriving them, typically by making saddle point approximation when the saddle points are not enough separated. The discussion is exemplified by the Sinai billiard where intermittent orbits associated with neutral orbits induce a branch point in the zeta functions. This singularity is responsible for a diverging diffusion constant in Lorentz gases with unbounded horizon. In the semiclassical case there is interference between neutral orbits and intermittent orbits. The Gutzwiller-Voros zeta function exhibit a branch point because it does not take this effect into account. Another consequence is that individual states, high up in the spectrum, cannot be resolved by Berry-Keating technique.Comment: 22 pages LaTeX, figures available from autho