| Description |
Pattern formation in nature has interested humankind for centuries,
with the first descriptions of intricate patterns in snowflakes
occurring in Chinese texts dating back to 150 BCE. I shall describe a
recent series of recent experiments conducted in my laboratory in
which patterns are generated in a variety of liquids, with a little
help from an infrared laser and some carbon nanotubes. The patterns
that we obtain are dendritic, and are produced on unprecedentedly fast
(millisecond) timescales. The results will be discussed in relation to
microscopic solvability theory. Unresolved issues, both experimental
and theoretical, will be highlighted.
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