Breakthrough in predicting chaotic outcomes in three-body systems

[erronis]

https://phys.org/news/2024-02-breakthrough-chaotic-outcomes-body.html

This seems like a very big deal. I know there have been several conversations at DU about these types of problems, and of course "The Three Body Problem" by Liu Cixin.

A new study has unveiled a significant advancement in chaos theory, introducing a flux-based statistical theory that predicts chaotic outcomes in non-hierarchical three-body systems. This breakthrough holds practical implications for fields such as celestial mechanics, astrophysics, and molecular dynamics, offering a more efficient and precise approach to analyzing complex systems and enabling deeper exploration and understanding of chaotic phenomena.

The research is published in the journal Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy.

The study led by Prof. Barak Kol from the Racah Institute of Physics at the Hebrew University validates a novel approach to understanding the dynamics of non-hierarchical three-body systems. The newly introduced, flux-based statistical theory demonstrated remarkable accuracy in predicting chaotic outcomes, paving the way for streamlined computations and deeper insights into complex systems.

The research aimed to confirm a theory regarding the behavior of three-body systems, proposing that chaotic outcomes in such systems can be predicted using a formula involving a chaotic emissivity function and the asymptotic flux, a known function. To measure this chaotic emissivity function, researchers conducted simulations, tracking millions of scattering events to distinguish between regular and chaotic scattering.