Department of Physics & Astronomy

Address: Department of Physics & Astronomy, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837

Phone: (570) 577-1348; Fax: (570)577-3153

Email: tsolomon@bucknell.edu or tom.solomon@bucknell.edu

Education: Ph.D., 1990, University of Pennsylvania

Research Interests: Experimental Nonlinear Dynamics (Pattern Formation, Advection-Reaction-Diffusion processes, Chaos & Turbulence)

Movies from research activities

• Chaotic mixing

  • Simulation of chaotic trajectory in an oscillating vortex flow.
  • Simulatiof two chaotic trajectories, showing sensitive dependence on initial conditions.
  • Experiments showing chaotic mixing in an oscillating vortex chain.
  • Simulations of chaotic trajectories in a blinking vortex flow.
  • Simulations of mixing of a line of impurities in a blinking vortex flow.
  • Experiments of mixing of dye in a blinking vortex flow.
  • Simulations of chaotic particle trajectories in a 3D, time-independent flow.

• Advection-Reaction-Diffusion (i.e., effects of chaotic mixing on chemical pattern formation)

  • Experiments showing spiral chemical patterns in a Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction.
  • Simulations of (1,1) mode-locking in an advection-reaction-diffusion system (oscillating vortex chain).
  • Simulations of (1,2) mode-locking in an advection-reaction-diffusion system (oscillating vortex chain).
  • Experiments comparing front propagation for time-independent flow (bottom), and low- and high-frequency forced flows (middle and top).
  • Aperiodic traveling waves in a vortex chain (in an annulus) with nearest-neighbor chaotic mixing.
  • Synchronization of the BZ reaction in vortex chain (in annulus) with superdiffusion.
  • Two-dimensional (2D) front propagation in an oscillating array of vortices; mode-locked front.
  • Two-dimensional (2D) self-sustaining pattern in an oscillating array of vortices; pair of spirals generating pattern of fronts.

Current Projects

See publications link above for papers written on these subjects.

• Advection-Reaction-Diffusion processes with chaotic mixing
  • Pattern formation in reacting systems and effects of chaotic mixing on those patterns.
  • Front propagation and mode-locking in a reacting system with chaotic mixing.
  • Synchronization of oscillators via superdiffusive mixing.

• Active (Self-consistent) chaotic mixing

  • Examining how chaotic mixing of non-passive impurities can destablize a flow.

• Chaotic advection (mixing) of immiscible impurities

  • Passive (neutrally-buoyant) mixing in 2-D, time-periodic flows.
  • Passive mixing in 3-D, time-independent flows.
  • Droplet breakup and coalescence in the presence of Lagrangian chaos.
  • The effects of Lagrangian chaos on particle aggregation.

• Large-scale pattern formation in solidification of ammonium chloride

  • Chimney formation in the presence of enhanced mushy layer flows;
  • Aggregation patterns of flowing crystal seeds;
  • Measurements of temperature field both in liquid layer and within mushy layer.

• Isotropic and anisotropic branching patterns in electrical discharges

Short video made for the Weis Center: ``What is a Miracle?''

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