Abstract
We present a space-time description of regular and complex phenomena which consists of a decomposition of a spatiotemporal signal into orthogonal temporal modes that we call chronos and orthogonal spatial modes that we call topos. This permits the introduction of several characteristics of the signal, three characteristic energies and entropies (one temporal, one spatial, and one global), and a characteristic dimension. Although the technique is general, we concentrate on its applications to hydrodynamic problems, specifically the transition to turbulence. We consider two cases of application: a coupled map lattice as a dynamical system model for spatiotemporal complexity and the open flow instability on a rotating disk. In the latter, we show a direct relation between the global entropy and the different instabilities that the flow undergoes as Reynolds number increases.
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