STP Book Chapter 1: Chaos

Text above simulation can go here.

In this program we initialize 11 particles moving with the same velocity such that the net force on each particle is zero. The particles interact through a Lennard-Jones potential. Then perturb the system very slightly and see what happens. The velocities can also be reversed to see to what extent the system is reversible.

The goal of this simulation is to explore how the smallest perturbation changes a special initial state of the system to one we would expect at thermal equilibrium. The idea of chaos or sensitivity to initial conditions is needed to understand why this happens, and to help explain irreversibility.

Resources

1. Download Java source code.
2. Download Python program.
3. Download executable jar file. (Need java on your computer to run this.)
4. Problem 1.8 in Statistical and Thermal Physics: With Computer Applications, 2nd ed., Harvey Gould and Jan Tobochnik, Princeton University Press (2021).

Updated 1 July 2020.