Renormalisation group theory applied to $\ddot{x}+\dot{x}+x^2=0$
Abstract
The titular ordinary differential equation (ODE) is encountered in the theory of on-axis inertial particle capture by a blunt stationary collector at a viscous-flow stagnation point. Phase space for the ODE divides into two attractor basins, representing particle trajectories which do or do not collide with the collector in a finite time. Written as , we formulate the renormalisation group (RG) amplitude equations for this problem and argue that the critical trajectory which separates the attractor basins corresponds to a trivial but exact solution of these, and can therefore be extracted as a power series in . We show how this can be used to find the cross-over between capture and non-capture as a function of distance from the stagnation point, for a particle released into the flow with no initial acceleration. This cross-over, previously only computable by numerical integration of the ODE, can therefore be expressed as a (numerically) convergent series with rational terms.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2412.16578,
title = {Renormalisation group theory applied to $\ddot{x}+\dot{x}+x^2=0$},
author = {Joshua F. Robinson and Patrick B. Warren},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2412.16578},
year = {2024}
}
Comments
8 pages (7 + references), 4 figures