Coupled Networks, Patterns and Complexity - Abstract
Barkley, Dwight
More than 125 years ago Osborne Reynolds launched the quantitative study of turbulent transition as he sought to understand the conditions under which fluid flowing through a pipe would be laminar or turbulent. For years this transition has been the subject of study, controversy, and uncertainty. I will recall some history with a view to explaining why this problem is both fascinating and difficult. I will then focus on recent theory that explains the transition to turbulence in the language of excitable and bistable media.