Speaker:Prof. Mike Proctor (DAMTP)
Venue: Old Combination Room, Trinity College
Time: 19/02/2009 20:30, drinks from 20:15

When physical systems with many symmetries become unstable, the result is a pattern with fewer symmetries. But typically there are an infinite number of such patterns, and the selection between them is due to nonlinear effects. Many cases can be understood by means of ‘equivariant bifurcation theory’. I will give a brief discussion of this with some common examples of patterns that can be predicted on symmetry grounds.