Dynamical Systems Commons^™

Math Meets Climate: The Energy Balance Model, Maria I. Sanchez Muniz

Open Educational Resources

This assignment introduces students to the mathematics of Earth’s climate through the classical energy balance model. Students analyze how incoming solar radiation, outgoing thermal radiation, and temperature-dependent albedo interact to determine Earth’s equilibrium temperature. Using analytical calculations and computational tools, students identify equilibrium states, assess their stability, and interpret the results through the lens of dynamical systems and bifurcation theory. The activity builds conceptual understanding of climate feedbacks, greenhouse effects, and tipping behavior using a transparent, one-variable model. Designed for applied mathematics and interdisciplinary STEM courses, this assignment emphasizes computation, physical interpretation, and real-world relevance. It is released as a …

Some Results In Thermodynamic Formalism, C. Evans Hedges

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates several key questions at the intersection of dynamical systems, computability theory, and thermodynamic formalism. In the symbolic setting, we establish novel results regarding the statistical properties of equilibrium states, deriving bounds on probabilities of configurations and relating these bounds to the Gibbs property through the homoclinic relation. Additionally, we examine the computability of thermodynamic quantities such as pressure, ground state energy, and residual entropy. We show that topological pressure is computable from above for general subshifts and computable for strongly irreducible shifts, with similar results extending to ground state energy and residual entropy.

Extending beyond subshifts, we …

Relative Equilibria Of Pinwheel Point Mass Systems In A Planar Gravitational Field, Ritwik Gaur

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

In this paper, we consider a planar case of the full two-body problem (F2BP) where one body is a pinwheel (four point masses connected via two perpendicular massless rods) and the other is a point mass. Relative equilibria (RE) are defined to be ordered pairs (r, θ) such that there exists a rotating reference frame under which the two bodies are in equilibrium when the distance between the point mass and the center of the pinwheel is r and the angle of the pinwheel within its orbit is θ. We prove that relative equilibria exist for …

Eigenvalue Algorithm For Hausdorff Dimension On Complex Kleinian Groups, Jacob Linden, Xuqing Wu

Rose-Hulman Undergraduate Mathematics Journal

In this manuscript, we present computational results approximating the Hausdorff dimension for the limit sets of complex Kleinian groups. We apply McMullen's eigenvalue algorithm \cite{mcmullen} in symmetric and non-symmetric examples of complex Kleinian groups, arising in both real and complex hyperbolic space. Numerical results are compared with asymptotic estimates in each case. Python code used to obtain all results and figures can be found at \url{https://github.com/WXML-HausDim/WXML-project}, all of which took only minutes to run on a personal computer.

The Fundamental Limit Theorem Of Countable Markov Chains, Nathanael Gentry

Senior Honors Theses

In 1906, the Russian probabilist A.A. Markov proved that the independence of a sequence of random variables is not a necessary condition for a law of large numbers to exist on that sequence. Markov's sequences -- today known as Markov chains -- touch several deep results in dynamical systems theory and have found wide application in bibliometrics, linguistics, artificial intelligence, and statistical mechanics. After developing the appropriate background, we prove a modern formulation of the law of large numbers (fundamental theorem) for simple countable Markov chains and develop an elementary notion of ergodicity. Then, we apply these chain convergence results …

Morphogenesis And Growth Driven By Selection Of Dynamical Properties, Yuri Cantor

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Organisms are understood to be complex adaptive systems that evolved to thrive in hostile environments. Though widely studied, the phenomena of organism development and growth, and their relationship to organism dynamics is not well understood. Indeed, the large number of components, their interconnectivity, and complex system interactions all obscure our ability to see, describe, and understand the functioning of biological organisms.

Here we take a synthetic and computational approach to the problem, abstracting the organism as a cellular automaton. Such systems are discrete digital models of real-world environments, making them more accessible and easier to study then their physical world …

Generalized Thomas-Fermi Equations As The Lampariello Class Of Emden-Fowler Equations, Haret C. Rosu, S.C. Mancas

Publications

A one-parameter family of Emden-Fowler equations defined by Lampariello’s parameter p which, upon using Thomas-Fermi boundary conditions, turns into a set of generalized Thomas-Fermi equations comprising the standard Thomas-Fermi equation for p = 1 is studied in this paper. The entire family is shown to be non integrable by reduction to the corresponding Abel equations whose invariants do not satisfy a known integrability condition. We also discuss the equivalent dynamical system of equations for the standard Thomas-Fermi equation and perform its phase-plane analysis. The results of the latter analysis are similar for the whole class.

The Battle Against Malaria: A Teachable Moment, Randy K. Schwartz

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Malaria has been humanity’s worst public health problem throughout recorded history. Mathematical methods are needed to understand which factors are relevant to the disease and to develop counter-measures against it. This article and the accompanying exercises provide examples of those methods for use in lower- or upper-level courses dealing with probability, statistics, or population modeling. These can be used to illustrate such concepts as correlation, causation, conditional probability, and independence. The article explains how the apparent link between sickle cell trait and resistance to malaria was first verified in Uganda using the chi-squared probability distribution. It goes on to explain …

Vanishing Configurations In Network Dynamics With Asynchronous Updates, Ian H. Dinwoodie

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications and Presentations

We consider Boolean dynamics for biological networks where stochasticity is introduced through asynchronous updates. An exact method is given for finding states which can reach a steady state with positive probability, and a method is given for finding states which cannot reach other steady states. These methods are based on computational commutative algebra. The algorithms are applied to dynamics of a cell survival network to determine node assignments that exclude termination in a cancerous state