The cat's cradle, stirring, and topological complexity
Chaotic Dynamics
2009-05-08 v2
Abstract
There are several physical situations in which the `tangling' of a loop is relevant: the game of cat's cradle is a simple example, but a more important application involves the stirring of a fluid by rods. Here we discuss how elementary topology constrains the types of mappings that can occur on a surface, for example when the surface is the domain of a two-dimensional fluid.
Cite
@article{arxiv.0904.0778,
title = {The cat's cradle, stirring, and topological complexity},
author = {Jean-Luc Thiffeault and Erwan Lanneau and Sarah Matz},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0904.0778},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
7 pages, 5 figures, PDFLatex with RevTeX4. Published in Dynamical Systems Magazine (http://www.dynamicalsystems.org/ma/ma/display?item=292)