Chaos driven by interfering memory

Statistical self-organization of an assembly of interacting walking drops in a confining potential

A drop bouncing on a vertically vibrated surface may self-propel forward by standing waves and travels along a fluid interface. This system called walking drop forms a non-quantum wave-particle association at the macroscopic scale. The dynamics of one particle has triggered many investigations and has resulted in spectacular experimental results in the last decade. We investigate numerically the dynamics of an assembly of walkers, i.e., a large number of walking drops evolving on a unbounded fluid interface in the presence of a confining potential acting on the particles. We show that even if the individual trajectories are erratic, the system presents a well-defined ordered internal structure that remains invariant to parameter variations such as the number of drops, the memory time and the bath radius. We rationalize such non-stationary self-organization in terms of the symmetry of the waves and show that oscillatory pair potentials form a wavy collective state of active matter.

Dynamics, interference effects, and multistability in a Lorenz-like system of a classical wave-particle entity in a periodic potential

A classical wave-particle entity (WPE) can be realized experimentally as a droplet walking on the free surface of a vertically vibrating liquid bath, with the droplet's horizontal walking motion guided by its self-generated wave field. These self-propelled WPEs have been shown to exhibit analogs of several quantum and optical phenomena. Using an idealized theoretical model that takes the form of a Lorenz-like system, we theoretically and numerically explore the dynamics of such a one-dimensional WPE in a sinusoidal potential. We find steady states of the system that correspond to a stationary WPE as well as a rich array of unsteady motions, such as back-and-forth oscillating walkers, runaway oscillating walkers, and various types of irregular walkers. In the parameter space formed by the dimensionless parameters of the applied sinusoidal potential, we observe patterns of alternating unsteady behaviors suggesting interference effects. Additionally, in certain regions of the parameter space, we also identify multistability in the particle's long-term behavior that depends on the initial conditions. We make analogies between the identified behaviors in the WPE system and Bragg's reflection of light as well as electron motion in crystals.

Pseudolaminar chaos from on-off intermittency

In finite-dimensional, chaotic, Lorenz-like wave-particle dynamical systems one can find diffusive trajectories, which share their appearance with that of laminar chaotic diffusion [Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 074101 (2022)0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.128.074101] known from delay systems with lag-time modulation. Applying, however, to such systems a test for laminar chaos, as proposed in [Phys. Rev. E 101, 032213 (2020)2470-004510.1103/PhysRevE.101.032213], these signals fail such a test, thus leading to the notion of pseudolaminar chaos. The latter can be interpreted as integrated periodically driven on-off intermittency. We demonstrate that, on a signal level, true laminar and pseudolaminar chaos are hardly distinguishable in systems with and without dynamical noise. However, very pronounced differences become apparent when correlations of signals and increments are considered. We compare and contrast these properties of pseudolaminar chaos with true laminar chaos.

Crises and chaotic scattering in hydrodynamic pilot-wave experiments

Theoretical foundations of chaos have been predominantly laid out for finite-dimensional dynamical systems, such as the three-body problem in classical mechanics and the Lorenz model in dissipative systems. In contrast, many real-world chaotic phenomena, e.g., weather, arise in systems with many (formally infinite) degrees of freedom, which limits direct quantitative analysis of such systems using chaos theory. In the present work, we demonstrate that the hydrodynamic pilot-wave systems offer a bridge between low- and high-dimensional chaotic phenomena by allowing for a systematic study of how the former connects to the latter. Specifically, we present experimental results, which show the formation of low-dimensional chaotic attractors upon destabilization of regular dynamics and a final transition to high-dimensional chaos via the merging of distinct chaotic regions through a crisis bifurcation. Moreover, we show that the post-crisis dynamics of the system can be rationalized as consecutive scatterings from the nonattracting chaotic sets with lifetimes following exponential distributions.

Overload wave-memory induces amnesia of a self-propelled particle

Information storage is a key element of autonomous, out-of-equilibrium dynamics, especially for biological and synthetic active matter. In synthetic active matter however, the implementation of internal memory in self-propelled systems is often absent, limiting our understanding of memory-driven dynamics. Recently, a system comprised of a droplet generating its guiding wavefield appeared as a prime candidate for such investigations. Indeed, the wavefield, propelling the droplet, encodes information about the droplet trajectory and the amount of information can be controlled by a single scalar experimental parameter. In this work, we show numerically and experimentally that the accumulation of information in the wavefield induces the loss of time correlations, where the dynamics can then be described by a memory-less process. We rationalize the resulting statistical behavior by defining an effective temperature for the particle dynamics where the wavefield acts as a thermostat of large dimensions, and by evidencing a minimization principle of the generated wavefield.

Memory and information storage play an important role in biological systems, however challenging to implement in synthetic active matter. The authors show that the wave field, propelling the particle, acts as a memory repository, and an excess of memory leads to a memory-less particle dynamics.

Lorenz-like systems emerging from an integro-differential trajectory equation of a one-dimensional wave-particle entity

Vertically vibrating a liquid bath can give rise to a self-propelled wave-particle entity on its free surface. The horizontal walking dynamics of this wave-particle entity can be described adequately by an integro-differential trajectory equation. By transforming this integro-differential equation of motion for a one-dimensional wave-particle entity into a system of ordinary differential equations (ODEs), we show the emergence of Lorenz-like dynamical systems for various spatial wave forms of the entity. Specifically, we present and give examples of Lorenz-like dynamical systems that emerge when the wave form gradient is (i) a solution of a linear homogeneous constant coefficient ODE, (ii) a polynomial, and (iii) a periodic function. Understanding the dynamics of the wave-particle entity in terms of Lorenz-like systems may prove to be useful in rationalizing emergent statistical behavior from underlying chaotic dynamics in hydrodynamic quantum analogs of walking droplets. Moreover, the results presented here provide an alternative physical interpretation of various Lorenz-like dynamical systems in terms of the walking dynamics of a wave-particle entity.

Anomalous transport of a classical wave-particle entity in a tilted potential

A classical wave-particle entity in the form of a millimetric walking droplet can emerge on the free surface of a vertically vibrating liquid bath. Such wave-particle entities have been shown to exhibit hydrodynamic analogs of quantum systems. Using an idealized theoretical model of this wave-particle entity in a tilted potential, we explore its transport behavior. The integro-differential equation of motion governing the dynamics of the wave-particle entity transforms to a Lorenz-like system of ordinary differential equations that drives the particle's velocity. Several anomalous transport regimes such as absolute negative mobility, differential negative mobility, and lock-in regions corresponding to force-independent mobility are observed. These observations motivate experiments in the hydrodynamic walking-droplet system for the experimental realizations of anomalous transport phenomena.

Unsteady dynamics of a classical particle-wave entity

A droplet bouncing on the surface of a vertically vibrating liquid bath can walk horizontally, guided by the waves it generates on each impact. This results in a self-propelled classical particle-wave entity. By using a one-dimensional theoretical pilot-wave model with a generalized wave form, we investigate the dynamics of this particle-wave entity. We employ different spatial wave forms to understand the role played by both wave oscillations and spatial wave decay in the walking dynamics. We observe steady walking motion as well as unsteady motions such as oscillating walking, self-trapped oscillations, and irregular walking. We explore the dynamical and statistical aspects of irregular walking and show an equivalence between the droplet dynamics and the Lorenz system, as well as making connections with the Langevin equation and deterministic diffusion.

Stop-and-go locomotion of superwalking droplets

Vertically vibrating a liquid bath at two frequencies, f and f/2, having a constant relative phase difference can give rise to self-propelled superwalking droplets on the liquid surface. We have numerically investigated such superwalking droplets in the regime where the phase difference varies slowly with time. We predict the emergence of stop-and-go motion of droplets, consistent with experimental observations [Valani et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 024503 (2019)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.123.024503]. Our simulations in the parameter space spanned by the droplet size and the rate of traversal of the phase difference uncover three different types of droplet motion: back-and-forth, forth-and-forth, and irregular stop-and-go motion, which we explore in detail. Our findings lay a foundation for further studies of dynamically driven droplets, whereby the droplet's motion may be guided by engineering arbitrary time-dependent phase difference functions.

Classical pilot-wave dynamics: The free particle

We present the results of a theoretical investigation into the dynamics of a vibrating particle propelled by its self-induced wave field. Inspired by the hydrodynamic pilot-wave system discovered by Yves Couder and Emmanuel Fort, the idealized pilot-wave system considered here consists of a particle guided by the slope of its quasi-monochromatic "pilot" wave, which encodes the history of the particle motion. We characterize this idealized pilot-wave system in terms of two dimensionless groups that prescribe the relative importance of particle inertia, drag and wave forcing. Prior work has delineated regimes in which self-propulsion of the free particle leads to steady or oscillatory rectilinear motion; it has further revealed parameter regimes in which the particle executes a stable circular orbit, confined by its pilot wave. We here report a number of new dynamical states in which the free particle executes self-induced wobbling and precessing orbital motion. We also explore the statistics of the chaotic regime arising when the time scale of the wave decay is long relative to that of particle motion and characterize the diffusive and rotational nature of the resultant particle dynamics. We thus present a detailed characterization of free-particle motion in this rich two-parameter family of dynamical systems.

Hydrodynamic quantum analogs

The walking droplet system discovered by Yves Couder and Emmanuel Fort presents an example of a vibrating particle self-propelling through a resonant interaction with its own wave field. It provides a means of visualizing a particle as an excitation of a field, a common notion in quantum field theory. Moreover, it represents the first macroscopic realization of a form of dynamics proposed for quantum particles by Louis de Broglie in the 1920s. The fact that this hydrodynamic pilot-wave system exhibits many features typically associated with the microscopic, quantum realm raises a number of intriguing questions. At a minimum, it extends the range of classical systems to include quantum-like statistics in a number of settings. A more optimistic stance is that it suggests the manner in which quantum mechanics might be completed through a theoretical description of particle trajectories. We here review the experimental studies of the walker system, and the hierarchy of theoretical models developed to rationalize its behavior. Particular attention is given to enumerating the dynamical mechanisms responsible for the emergence of robust, structured statistical behavior. Another focus is demonstrating how the temporal nonlocality of the droplet dynamics, as results from the persistence of its pilot wave field, may give rise to behavior that appears to be spatially nonlocal. Finally, we describe recent explorations of a generalized theoretical framework that provides a mathematical bridge between the hydrodynamic pilot-wave system and various realist models of quantum dynamics.

Bifurcations and chaos in a Lorenz-like pilot-wave system

A millimetric droplet may bounce and self-propel on the surface of a vertically vibrating fluid bath, guided by its self-generated wave field. This hydrodynamic pilot-wave system exhibits a vast range of dynamics, including behavior previously thought to be exclusive to the quantum realm. We present the results of a theoretical investigation of an idealized pilot-wave model, in which a particle is guided by a one-dimensional wave that is equipped with the salient features of the hydrodynamic system. The evolution of this reduced pilot-wave system may be simplified by projecting onto a three-dimensional dynamical system describing the evolution of the particle velocity, the local wave amplitude, and the local wave slope. As the resultant dynamical system is remarkably similar in form to the Lorenz system, we utilize established properties of the Lorenz equations as a guide for identifying and elucidating several pilot-wave phenomena, including the onset and characterization of chaos.

Tunable bimodal explorations of space from memory-driven deterministic dynamics

We present a wave-memory-driven system that exhibits intermittent switching between two propulsion modes in free space. The model is based on a pointlike particle emitting periodically cylindrical standing waves. Submitted to a force related to the local wave-field gradient, the particle is propelled, while the wave field stores positional information on the particle trajectory. For long memory, the linear motion is unstable and we observe erratic switches between two propulsive modes: linear motion and diffusive motion. We show that the bimodal propulsion and the stochastic aspect of the dynamics at long time are generated by a Shil'nikov chaos. The memory of the system controls the fraction of time spent in each phase. The resulting bimodal dynamics shows analogies with intermittent search strategies usually observed in living systems of much higher complexity.

Superwalking Droplets

A walker is a droplet of liquid that self-propels on the free surface of an oscillating bath of the same liquid through feedback between the droplet and its wave field. We have studied walking droplets in the presence of two driving frequencies and have observed a new class of walking droplets, which we coin superwalkers. Superwalkers may be more than double the size of the largest walkers, may travel at more than triple the speed of the fastest ones, and enable a plethora of novel multidroplet behaviors.

Multistable Free States of an Active Particle from a Coherent Memory Dynamics

We investigate the dynamics of a deterministic self-propelled particle endowed with coherent memory. We evidence experimentally and numerically that it exhibits several stable free states. The system is composed of a self-propelled drop bouncing on a vibrated liquid driven by the waves it emits at each bounce. This object possesses a propulsion memory resulting from the coherent interference of the waves accumulated along its path. We investigate here the transitory regime of the buildup of the dynamics which leads to velocity modulations. Experiments and numerical simulations enable us to explore unchartered areas of the phase space and reveal the existence of a self-sustained oscillatory regime. Finally, we show the coexistence of several free states. This feature emerges both from the spatiotemporal nonlocality of this path memory dynamics as well as the wave nature of the driving mechanism.

State space geometry of the chaotic pilot-wave hydrodynamics

We consider the motion of a droplet bouncing on a vibrating bath of the same fluid in the presence of a central potential. We formulate a rotation symmetry-reduced description of this system, which allows for the straightforward application of dynamical systems theory tools. As an illustration of the utility of the symmetry reduction, we apply it to a model of the pilot-wave system with a central harmonic force. We begin our analysis by identifying local bifurcations and the onset of chaos. We then describe the emergence of chaotic regions and their merging bifurcations, which lead to the formation of a global attractor. In this final regime, the droplet's angular momentum spontaneously changes its sign as observed in the experiments of Perrard et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett.113(10), 104101 (2014)].

Dynamics, emergent statistics, and the mean-pilot-wave potential of walking droplets

A millimetric droplet may bounce and self-propel on the surface of a vertically vibrating bath, where its horizontal "walking" motion is induced by repeated impacts with its accompanying Faraday wave field. For ergodic long-time dynamics, we derive the relationship between the droplet's stationary statistical distribution and its mean wave field in a very general setting. We then focus on the case of a droplet subjected to a harmonic potential with its motion confined to a line. By analyzing the system's periodic states, we reveal a number of dynamical regimes, including those characterized by stationary bouncing droplets trapped by the harmonic potential, periodic quantized oscillations, chaotic motion and wavelike statistics, and periodic wave-trapped droplet motion that may persist even in the absence of a central force. We demonstrate that as the vibrational forcing is increased progressively, the periodic oscillations become chaotic via the Ruelle-Takens-Newhouse route. We rationalize the role of the local pilot-wave structure on the resulting droplet motion, which is akin to a random walk. We characterize the emergence of wavelike statistics influenced by the effective potential that is induced by the mean Faraday wave field.

Walking droplets in a circular corral: Quantisation and chaos

A millimetric liquid droplet may walk across the surface of a vibrating liquid bath through a resonant interaction with its self-generated wavefield. Such walking droplets, or "walkers," have attracted considerable recent interest because they exhibit certain features previously believed to be exclusive to the microscopic, quantum realm. In particular, the intricate motion of a walker confined to a closed geometry is known to give rise to a coherent wave-like statistical behavior similar to that of electrons confined to quantum corrals. Here, we examine experimentally the dynamics of a walker inside a circular corral. We first illustrate the emergence of a variety of stable dynamical states for relatively low vibrational accelerations, which lead to a double quantisation in angular momentum and orbital radius. We then characterise the system's transition to chaos for increasing vibrational acceleration and illustrate the resulting breakdown of the double quantisation. Finally, we discuss the similarities and differences between the dynamics and statistics of a walker inside a circular corral and that of a walker subject to a simple harmonic potential.

Hong-Ou-Mandel-like two-droplet correlations

We present a numerical study of two-droplet pair correlations for in-phase droplets walking on a vibrating bath. Two such walkers are launched toward a common point of intersection. As they approach, their carrier waves may overlap and the droplets have a non-zero probability of forming a two-droplet bound state. The likelihood of such pairing is quantified by measuring the probability of finding the droplets in a bound state at late times. Three generic types of two-droplet correlations are observed: promenading, orbiting, and chasing pair of walkers. For certain parameters, the droplets may become correlated for certain initial path differences and remain uncorrelated for others, while in other cases, the droplets may never produce droplet pairs. These observations pave the way for further studies of strongly correlated many-droplet behaviors in the hydrodynamical quantum analogs of bouncing and walking droplets.

Exploring orbital dynamics and trapping with a generalized pilot-wave framework

We explore the effects of an imposed potential with both oscillatory and quadratic components on the dynamics of walking droplets. We first conduct an experimental investigation of droplets walking on a bath with a central circular well. The well acts as a source of Faraday waves, which may trap walking droplets on circular orbits. The observed orbits are stable and quantized, with preferred radii aligning with the extrema of the well-induced Faraday wave pattern. We use the stroboscopic model of Oza et al. [J. Fluid Mech. 737, 552-570 (2013)] with an added potential to examine the interaction of the droplet with the underlying well-induced wavefield. We show that all quantized orbits are stable for low vibrational accelerations. Smaller orbits may become unstable at higher forcing accelerations and transition to chaos through a path reminiscent of the Ruelle-Takens-Newhouse scenario. We proceed by considering a generalized pilot-wave system in which the relative magnitudes of the pilot-wave force and drop inertia may be tuned. When the drop inertia is dominated by the pilot-wave force, all circular orbits may become unstable, with the drop chaotically switching between them. In this chaotic regime, the statistically stationary probability distribution of the drop's position reflects the relative instability of the unstable circular orbits. We compute the mean wavefield from a chaotic trajectory and confirm its predicted relationship with the particle's probability density function.

A review of the theoretical modeling of walking droplets: Toward a generalized pilot-wave framework

The walking droplet system has extended the range of classical systems to include several features previously thought to be exclusive to quantum systems. We review the hierarchy of analytic models that have been developed, on the basis of various simplifying assumptions, to describe droplets walking on a vibrating fluid bath. Particular attention is given to detailing their successes and failures in various settings. Finally, we present a theoretical model that may be adopted to explore a more generalized pilot-wave framework capable of further extending the phenomenological range of classical pilot-wave systems beyond that achievable in the laboratory.

Pilot-wave dynamics of two identical, in-phase bouncing droplets

A droplet bouncing on the surface of a vibrating liquid bath can move horizontally guided by the wave it produces on impacting the bath. The wave itself is modified by the environment, and thus, the interactions of the moving droplet with the surroundings are mediated through the wave. This forms an example of a pilot-wave system. Taking the Oza-Rosales-Bush description for walking droplets as a theoretical pilot-wave model, we investigate the dynamics of two interacting identical, in-phase bouncing droplets theoretically and numerically. A remarkably rich range of behaviors is encountered as a function of the two system parameters, the ratio of inertia to drag, κ , and the ratio of wave forcing to drag, β . The droplets typically travel together in a tightly bound pair, although they unbind when the wave forcing is large and inertia is small or inertia is moderately large and wave forcing is moderately small. Bound pairs can exhibit a range of trajectories depending on parameter values, including straight lines, sub-diffusive random walks, and closed loops. The droplets themselves may maintain their relative positions, oscillate toward and away from one another, or interchange positions regularly or chaotically as they travel. We explore these regimes and others and the bifurcations between them through analytic and numerical linear stability analyses and through fully nonlinear numerical simulation.

Transition to chaos in wave memory dynamics in a harmonic well: Deterministic and noise-driven behavior

A walker is the association of a sub-millimetric bouncing drop moving along with a co-evolving Faraday wave. When confined in a harmonic potential, its stable trajectories are periodic and quantised both in extension and mean angular momentum. In this article, we present the rest of the story, specifically the chaotic paths. They are chaotic and show intermittent behaviors between an unstable quantised set of attractors. First, we present the two possible situations we find experimentally. Then, we emphasise theoretically two mechanisms that lead to unstable situations. It corresponds either to noise-driven chaos or low-dimensional deterministic chaos. Finally, we characterise experimentally each of these distinct situations. This article aims at presenting a comprehensive investigation of the unstable paths in order to complete the picture of walkers in a two dimensional harmonic potential.

Self-propulsion and crossing statistics under random initial conditions

We investigate the crossing of an energy barrier by a self-propelled particle described by a Rayleigh friction term. We reveal the existence of a sharp transition in the external force field whereby the amplitude dramatically increases. This corresponds to a saddle point transition in the velocity flow phase space, as would be expected for any type of repulsive force field. We use this approach to rationalize the results obtained by Eddi et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 240401 (2009)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.102.240401] who studied the interaction between a drop propelled by its accompanying wave field and a submarine obstacle. This wave particle entity can overcome potential barrier, suggesting the existence of a "macroscopic tunneling effect." We show that the effect of self-propulsion is sufficiently strong to generate crossing of the high-energy barrier. By assuming a random distribution of initial angles, we define a probability distribution to cross the potential barrier that matches with the data of Eddi et al. This probability is similar to the one encountered in statistical physics for Hamiltonian systems, i.e., a Boltzmann exponential law.

Two-frequency forcing of droplet rebounds on a liquid bath

Droplets can bounce indefinitely on a liquid bath vertically vibrated in a sinusoidal fashion. We here present experimental results that extend this observation to forcing signals composed of a combination of two commensurable frequencies. The Faraday and Goodridge thresholds are characterized. Then a number of vertical bouncing modes are reported, including walkers. The vertical motion can become chaotic, in which case the horizontal motion is an alternation of walk and stop.

Self-attraction into spinning eigenstates of a mobile wave source by its emission back-reaction

The back-reaction of a radiated wave on the emitting source is a general problem. In the most general case, back-reaction on moving wave sources depends on their whole history. Here we study a model system in which a pointlike source is piloted by its own memory-endowed wave field. Such a situation is implemented experimentally using a self-propelled droplet bouncing on a vertically vibrated liquid bath and driven by the waves it generates along its trajectory. The droplet and its associated wave field form an entity having an intrinsic dual particle-wave character. The wave field encodes in its interference structure the past trajectory of the droplet. In the present article we show that this object can self-organize into a spinning state in which the droplet possesses an orbiting motion without any external interaction. The rotation is driven by the wave-mediated attractive interaction of the droplet with its own past. The resulting "memory force" is investigated and characterized experimentally, numerically, and theoretically. Orbiting with a radius of curvature close to half a wavelength is shown to be a memory-induced dynamical attractor for the droplet's motion.

The onset of chaos in orbital pilot-wave dynamics

We present the results of a numerical investigation of the emergence of chaos in the orbital dynamics of droplets walking on a vertically vibrating fluid bath and acted upon by one of the three different external forces, specifically, Coriolis, Coulomb, or linear spring forces. As the vibrational forcing of the bath is increased progressively, circular orbits destabilize into wobbling orbits and eventually chaotic trajectories. We demonstrate that the route to chaos depends on the form of the external force. When acted upon by Coriolis or Coulomb forces, the droplet's orbital motion becomes chaotic through a period-doubling cascade. In the presence of a central harmonic potential, the transition to chaos follows a path reminiscent of the Ruelle-Takens-Newhouse scenario.

Wave-Based Turing Machine: Time Reversal and Information Erasing

The investigation of dynamical systems has revealed a deep-rooted difference between waves and objects regarding temporal reversibility and particlelike objects. In nondissipative chaos, the dynamic of waves always remains time reversible, unlike that of particles. Here, we explore the dynamics of a wave-particle entity. It consists in a drop bouncing on a vibrated liquid bath, self-propelled and piloted by the surface waves it generates. This walker, in which there is an information exchange between the particle and the wave, can be analyzed in terms of a Turing machine with waves as the information repository. The experiments reveal that in this system, the drop can read information backwards while erasing it. The drop can thus backtrack on its previous trajectory. A transient temporal reversibility, restricted to the drop motion, is obtained in spite of the system being both dissipative and chaotic.

Quantumlike statistics of deterministic wave-particle interactions in a circular cavity

A deterministic low-dimensional iterated map is proposed here to describe the interaction between a bouncing droplet and Faraday waves confined to a circular cavity. Its solutions are investigated theoretically and numerically. The horizontal trajectory of the droplet can be chaotic: it then corresponds to a random walk of average step size equal to half the Faraday wavelength. An analogy is made between the diffusion coefficient of this random walk and the action per unit mass ℏ/m of a quantum particle. The statistics of droplet position and speed are shaped by the cavity eigenmodes, in remarkable agreement with the solution of Schrödinger equation for a quantum particle in a similar potential well.

Pilot-wave dynamics in a harmonic potential: Quantization and stability of circular orbits

We present the results of a theoretical investigation of the dynamics of a droplet walking on a vibrating fluid bath under the influence of a harmonic potential. The walking droplet's horizontal motion is described by an integro-differential trajectory equation, which is found to admit steady orbital solutions. Predictions for the dependence of the orbital radius and frequency on the strength of the radial harmonic force field agree favorably with experimental data. The orbital quantization is rationalized through an analysis of the orbital solutions. The predicted dependence of the orbital stability on system parameters is compared with experimental data and the limitations of the model are discussed.

Displacement of an Electrically Charged Drop on a Vibrating Bath

In this work, the manipulation of an electrically charged droplet bouncing on a vertically vibrated bath is investigated. When a horizontal, uniform, and static electric field is applied to it, a motion is induced. The droplet is accelerated when the droplet is small. On the other hand, large droplets appear to move with a constant speed that depends linearly on the applied electrical field. In the latter regime, high-speed imaging of one bounce reveals that the droplet experiences an acceleration due to the electrical force during the flight and decelerates to 0 when interacting with the surface of the bath. Thus, the droplet moves with a constant average speed on a large time scale. We propose a criterion based on the force necessary to move a charged droplet at the surface of the bath to discriminate between constant speed and accelerated droplet regimes.

Double-slit experiment with single wave-driven particles and its relation to quantum mechanics

In a thought-provoking paper, Couder and Fort [Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 154101 (2006)] describe a version of the famous double-slit experiment performed with droplets bouncing on a vertically vibrated fluid surface. In the experiment, an interference pattern in the single-particle statistics is found even though it is possible to determine unambiguously which slit the walking droplet passes. Here we argue, however, that the single-particle statistics in such an experiment will be fundamentally different from the single-particle statistics of quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanical interference takes place between different classical paths with precise amplitude and phase relations. In the double-slit experiment with walking droplets, these relations are lost since one of the paths is singled out by the droplet. To support our conclusions, we have carried out our own double-slit experiment, and our results, in particular the long and variable slit passage times of the droplets, cast strong doubt on the feasibility of the interference claimed by Couder and Fort. To understand theoretically the limitations of wave-driven particle systems as analogs to quantum mechanics, we introduce a Schrödinger equation with a source term originating from a localized particle that generates a wave while being simultaneously guided by it. We show that the ensuing particle-wave dynamics can capture some characteristics of quantum mechanics such as orbital quantization. However, the particle-wave dynamics can not reproduce quantum mechanics in general, and we show that the single-particle statistics for our model in a double-slit experiment with an additional splitter plate differs qualitatively from that of quantum mechanics.