Ehud Meron

A detailed theory of the appearance of low-dimensional chaos in a hydrodynamic system is presented. The system chosen has been subjected to a careful experimental study; it involves dynamics of surface waves in a cylinder of fluid which is oscillated vertically. All the major experimental findings are rationalized by the theory. It should be stressed that in addition to low-dimensional nonlinear evolution equations the theory results also in an approximate solution of the original partial differential equations.