Caustic of the three-dimensional ellipsoid. (Caustique de la surface ellipsoïdale à trois dimensions.)
Singularities, defects and chaos in organized fluids
The singularities occurring in any sort of ordering are known in physics as defects. In an organized fluid defects may occur both at microscopic (molecular) and at macroscopic scales when hydrodynamic ordered structures are developed. Such a fluid system serves as a model for the study of the evolution towards a strong disorder (chaos) and it is found that the singularities play an important role in the nature of the chaos. Moreover both types of defects become coupled at the onset of turbulence....
Symmetric caustics and Curie's principle
Physical systems producing caustics may possess symmetries. In that case the relation between the symmetry of the system, considered as a whole, and the symmetry of the caustic follow a very general symmetry principle, the Curie principle. We give various examples of application of the Curie principle to caustics produced by the deflection of light in liquid crystals: the so called squint effect, the visualization of a new type of roll structure, etc. We show also that the Curie principle applies...
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