Saturday, August 12

MS48
Forced Symmetry Breaking in Pattern Forming Systems

1:30 PM-3:30 PM
Plumeria &Tiare (Salon 9 & 10)

Symmetry is an extremely useful tool in the analysis of pattern formation. Many studies assume a symmetrical system and then use results from group theory and algebraic geometry to analyze it. No experimental apparatus is perfectly symmetrical, however, so it is important to study the effects of almost symmetrical systems. A small explicit symmetry breaking unfolding can have a large qualitative effect, such as the breaking of heteroclinic cycles or the appearance of bursting phenomena. Because of the importance of the original symmetry and the way it is broken, group theoretical methods are essential for an adequate understanding of these effects.

1:30-1:55 Bénard Convection with Differential Rotation

Timothy K. Callahan, Organizer

2:00-2:25 Bifurcations with Broken D_4 Symmetry

Edgar Knobloch, University of California, Berkeley, USA

2:30-2:55 Chaotic Dynamics in the 1:2 Spatial Resonance

Jeff Porter and Edgar Knobloch, University of California, Berkeley, USA

3:00-3:25 Heteroclinic Dynamics in the Parametrically Driven Nonlocal Schrödinger Equation

María Higuera, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain; Edgar Knobloch, and Jeff Porter, University of California, Berkeley