The Experimental Nonlinear Physics Group

Professor Stephen Morris' research group in the Department of Physics, University of Toronto.

What is Nonlinear Physics?

Nonlinear physics is a catch-all term for the study of the dynamics of driven, open, non-equilibrium systems. The research is mainly concerned with the phenomenon of pattern formation. When a nonlinear, dissipative system ( that is, one with friction ) is driven hard enough, it will often undergo a symmetry-breaking instability which takes it to a regular pattern state. The pattern is a dynamical state sustained by the driving forces which can have a high degree of periodic order and symmetry, even while it is producing and exporting entropy. Patterns are simple examples of emergent, self-organized structures which exist under non-equilibrium conditions. Surprisingly ordered non-equilibrium patterns are found in many different places in nature, including convection cells in fluids, spirals in oscillatory chemical reactions, ripples on blown sand, and in many biological and geological processes.