Date of Award:
8-2026
Document Type:
Thesis
Degree Name:
Master of Science (MS)
Department:
Physics
Committee Chair(s)
Boyd Edwards
Committee
Boyd Edwards
Committee
Jan Sojka
Committee
D. Mark Riffe
Abstract
This thesis studies the motion of one spherical magnet sliding on another fixed spherical magnet. Although the setup is simple, the resulting motion can range from regular and predictable to chaotic as the energy increases. To understand this behavior, mathematical tools are used to visualize how all possible motions are organized in phase space. These methods reveal patterns such as stable regions, repeating motions, and chaotic trajectories. The results show how order and chaos coexist in this system and provide insight into how small changes in the initial conditions can lead to very different outcomes.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Pontius, Matthew, "Visualizing the Phase Space of Two Interacting Spherical Magnets via Lagrangian Descriptors" (2026). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present. 849.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd2023/849
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