The 42nd Dynamics Days US conference was hosted January 8-10 by UC Davis (https://ddays2024.ucdavis.edu/). Approximately 130 participants converged on Davis, California, for a much longed for in-person Dynamics Days conference. The conference featured 11 invited talks, 28 contributed talks, and 48 posters, with the topics of talks including biophysics, climate modeling, machine learning applications to dynamical systems, neuroscience, dynamics on networks, and pattern formation.
Figure 1. Zachary Nicolaou discusses the emergence of chimeras in networks of Janus oscillators.
As part of the invited talks, Alexandria Volkening presented a method for comparing the results of agent-based models of pattern formation with experimental patterns using topological data analysis. Jürgen Kurths talked about the functional network of climate spanning the earth, and how it can be used to gain unexpected insights about climate teleconnections. Sebastian Schreiber discussed how the growth of predator-prey networks can be analyzed using invasion graphs. Maike Sonnewald presented a case study showing how machine learning can be applied to determine relevant features to analyze circulation surrounding the Antarctica.
In one of two packed public lectures, Omar Hurricane described the process by which fusion ignition was achieved Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Next, Liz Bradley presented a new automated method to extract exponents from scaling regions, an ubiquitous problem in nonlinear dynamics.
Figure 2. Stephanie Dodson explains the power of exponential weightings in stabilizing eigenvalue computations for spiral waves.
Dave Albers gave a broad overview of the challenges and applications of data assimilation in the medical fields. Rishi Chaudhuri discussed how chaos might be used by the brain as a rich basis of patterns for generative processes. Ying-Cheng Lai talked about a method to predict tipping points in dynamical systems, and presented a climate case study. Leon Glass discussed applications of nonlinear dynamics to cardiac dynamics, spanning the understanding of cardiac alternans as a period-2 bifurcation to recent work on arrhythmias caused by two coexisting pacemakers. Daniel Cooney gave a talk on evolutionary dynamics highlighting the interplay between competition and cooperation. Finally, Stephanie Dodson discussed the accurate computation of eigenvalues associated to the stability of spiral wave patterns.
Five poster awards were won by:
- Corey Lynn Murphey (University of Colorado Boulder): A Dynamics-Inspired Model for Phonation-Induced Aerosolization
- Zach Atkins (University of Colorado Boulder): Generation of Novel Chord Progressions via a Musically-Inspired Chaotic Mapping
- Xiangyi Meng (Northwestern University): An enhanced percolation model for establishing quantum communication
- Sabina Adhikari (University of Colorado Boulder): Oscillatory and chaotic synchronization behavior in coupled oscillator systems with higher order interactions, community structure, and phase lags
- Camille Korbut (University of California Davis): DNA Knotting Dynamics in Bacteriophages
Dynamics Days US 2025 will be hosted by the University of Colorado at Boulder.