Berlin 2008 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 12: Nonlinear dynamics, synchronization and chaos II

DY 12.5: Talk

Tuesday, February 26, 2008, 11:00–11:15, MA 004

How does God play dice? — •Jan Nagler — Institute for Nonlinear Dynamics, University of Bremen — Max Planck Institute for Dynamics und Self-Organization, Göttingen

A dice throw is commonly considered a paradigm for chance. However tossing the dice has little to do with fortuitousness. We show how deterministic classical dynamics make a dice throw to a fairly good random number generator, and under which conditions the outcome is rather predictable. In order to keep things simple, we focus on the simplest possible dice throw model: a barbell with two marked masses at each end that is thrown with initial rotation and eventually comes to rest when the bounces have consumed all energy. The two possible final configuration types of the masses define then the outcome of the throw. We analyze the pseudorandom nature of a dice roll studying the dependence of the outcomes on initial energy, position, momenta and friction strength.