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Chaos An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science

Exploring orbital dynamics and trapping with a generalized pilot-wave framework

Lucas D. Tambasco, John W. M. Bush

Published Sep 1, 2018• 21 citations

Abstract

We explore the effects of an imposed potential with both oscillatory and quadratic components on the dynamics of walking droplets. We first conduct an experimental investigation of droplets walking on a bath with a central circular well. The well acts as a source of Faraday waves, which may trap walking droplets on circular orbits. The observed orbits are stable and quantized, with preferred radii aligning with the extrema of the well-induced Faraday wave pattern. We use the stroboscopic model of Oza et al. [J. Fluid Mech. 737, 552–570 (2013)] with an added potential to examine the interaction of the droplet with the underlying well-induced wavefield. We show that all quantized orbits are stable for low vibrational accelerations. Smaller orbits may become unstable at higher forcing accelerations and transition to chaos through a path reminiscent of the Ruelle-Takens-Newhouse scenario. We proceed by considering a generalized pilot-wave system in which the relative magnitudes of the pilot-wave force and drop inertia may be tuned. When the drop inertia is dominated by the pilot-wave force, all circular orbits may become unstable, with the drop chaotically switching between them. In this chaotic regime, the statistically stationary probability distribution of the drop’s position reflects the relative instability of the unstable circular orbits. We compute the mean wavefield from a chaotic trajectory and confirm its predicted relationship with the particle’s probability density function.

DOI: 10.1063/1.5033962

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We explore the effects of an imposed potential with both oscillatory and quadratic components on the dynamics of walking droplets. We first conduct an experimental investigation of droplets walking on a bath with a central circular well. The well acts as a source of Faraday waves, which may trap walking droplets on circular orbits. The observed orbits are stable and quantized, with preferred radii aligning with the extrema of the well-induced Faraday wave pattern. We use the stroboscopic model of Oza et al. [J. Fluid Mech. 737, 552–570 (2013)] with an added potential to examine the interaction of the droplet with the underlying well-induced wavefield. We show that all quantized orbits are stable for low vibrational accelerations. Smaller orbits may become unstable at higher forcing accelerations and transition to chaos through a path reminiscent of the Ruelle-Takens-Newhouse scenario. We proceed by considering a generalized pilot-wave system in which the relative magnitudes of the pilot-wave force and drop inertia may be tuned. When the drop inertia is dominated by the pilot-wave force, all circular orbits may become unstable, with the drop chaotically switching between them. In this chaotic regime, the statistically stationary probability distribution of the drop’s position reflects the relative instability of the unstable circular orbits. We compute the mean wavefield from a chaotic trajectory and confirm its predicted relationship with the particle’s probability density function.

We present the results of a theoretical investigation of droplets walking on a rotating vibrating fluid bath. The droplet’s trajectory is described in terms of an integro-differential equation that incorporates the influence of its propulsive wave force. Predictions for the dependence of the orbital radius on the bath’s rotation rate compare favourably with experimental data and capture the progression from continuous to quantized orbits as the vibrational acceleration is increased. The orbital quantization is rationalized by assessing the stability of the orbital solutions, and may be understood as resulting directly from the dynamic constraint imposed on the drop by its monochromatic guiding wave. The stability analysis also predicts the existence of wobbling orbital states reported in recent experiments, and the absence of stable orbits in the limit of large vibrational forcing.

Abstract We present the results of a theoretical investigation of droplets walking on a rotating vibrating fluid bath. The droplet’s trajectory is described in terms of an integro-differential equation that incorporates the influence of its propulsive wave force. Predictions for the dependence of the orbital radius on the bath’s rotation rate compare favourably with experimental data and capture the progression from continuous to quantized orbits as the vibrational acceleration is increased. The orbital quantization is rationalized by assessing the stability of the orbital solutions, and may be understood as resulting directly from the dynamic constraint imposed on the drop by its monochromatic guiding wave. The stability analysis also predicts the existence of wobbling orbital states reported in recent experiments, and the absence of stable orbits in the limit of large vibrational forcing.

We present the results of a theoretical investigation of the dynamics of a droplet walking on a vibrating fluid bath under the influence of a harmonic potential. The walking droplet's horizontal motion is described by an integro-differential trajectory equation, which is found to admit steady orbital solutions. Predictions for the dependence of the orbital radius and frequency on the strength of the radial harmonic force field agree favorably with experimental data. The orbital quantization is rationalized through an analysis of the orbital solutions. The predicted dependence of the orbital stability on system parameters is compared with experimental data and the limitations of the model are discussed.

A droplet may ‘walk’ across the surface of a vertically vibrating bath of the same fluid, due to the propulsive interaction with its wave field. This hydrodynamic pilot-wave system exhibits many dynamics previously believed to exist only in the quantum realm. Starting from first principles, we derive a discrete-time fluid model, whereby the bath–droplet interactions are modelled as instantaneous. By analysing the stability of the fixed points of the system, we explain the dynamics of a walking droplet and capture the quantisations for multiple-droplet interactions. Circular orbits in a harmonic potential are studied, and a double quantisation of chaotic trajectories is obtained through systematic statistical analysis.

A droplet bouncing on the surface of a vibrating liquid bath can move horizontally guided by the wave it produces on impacting the bath. The wave itself is modified by the environment, and thus, the interactions of the moving droplet with the surroundings are mediated through the wave. This forms an example of a pilot-wave system. Taking the Oza–Rosales–Bush description for walking droplets as a theoretical pilot-wave model, we investigate the dynamics of two interacting identical, in-phase bouncing droplets theoretically and numerically. A remarkably rich range of behaviors is encountered as a function of the two system parameters, the ratio of inertia to drag, κ, and the ratio of wave forcing to drag, β. The droplets typically travel together in a tightly bound pair, although they unbind when the wave forcing is large and inertia is small or inertia is moderately large and wave forcing is moderately small. Bound pairs can exhibit a range of trajectories depending on parameter values, including straight lines, sub-diffusive random walks, and closed loops. The droplets themselves may maintain their relative positions, oscillate toward and away from one another, or interchange positions regularly or chaotically as they travel. We explore these regimes and others and the bifurcations between them through analytic and numerical linear stability analyses and through fully nonlinear numerical simulation.

The interaction of 'walking droplets' and capillary waves in a weakly subcritical Faraday wave experiment has been studied as a hydrodynamic analog to Bohmian quantum mechanics (see "Hydrodynamic Quantum Analogs", J. Bush and A. Oza, Rep. Prog. Physics (2021)). We report here experimental results of walking droplets interacting with supercritical Faraday waves with dimensionless acceleration of approximately 7.7, where the onset of Faraday instability occurs at dimensionless acceleration 6.3, in flat bath topography. Our working fluid is silicone oil with a kinematic viscosity of 20 cst that is placed as a 4.2 mm horizontal liquid layer in an intermediate-aspect-ratio circular bath with a radius to Faraday wavelength ratio of 5.8. We also use different 3D-printed subsurfaces that act as slit structures with local oil depth of 0.7 mm. We confirm expected behavior for walking droplets in the supercritical Faraday regime, such as erratic trajectories, droplets clustering together due to capillary effects, and spontaneous drop creation. We note a special case of walking-droplet behavior when the bath only partially displays Faraday waves. We discuss the influence of the lateral boundaries and slits on droplet trajectory in this chaotic regime and compare the measured trajectories found here to those single and double slit experiments previously studied in the subcritical Faraday regime.