Engineering Physics Student · University of Alberta
Luke Concini
Hi, my name is Luke! I'm a 3rd-year Engineering Physics Co-op student. I enjoy solving a beautiful math or physics problem, coding, and learning about circuits. You can otherwise find me climbing, enjoying the outdoors, or listening to music.
Consider a computational exploration of a classical physics system.
The double pendulum is a chaotic system, meaning a unique lifetime is produced by slight alterations in initial conditions. For small-angle oscillations, a careful observer should be able to pick out an (approximate) superposition of normal modes!
This is a live RK4 numerical integration of a Hamiltonian state vector, using the bob angles as generalized coordinates q, and associated generalized momenta p. I used a very similar engine to simulate relativistic electron trajectories for my keV Electron Diode Source research project. Check out the poster, project, and report!
The n-body problem is given by finding the trajectories of n masses interacting through gravity.
Given no analytic solution for greater than 2 bodies, this simulation uses direct force summation. See the projects page for work that uses similar simulation techniques.
The simple pendulum under small-angle conditions is a canonical example of simple harmonic motion, a keystone concept in many physical models.
While an approximation, using such simplifying cases to linearize a system is helpful when dealing with complex behaviour. It's a strategy I used extensively in PHYS 244: Classical Mechanics I; it was one of my favourite courses, unfortunately taken before I began using LaTeX to write my notes.
Contact
Feel free to reach out via email, I'm happy to chat!