|
Alternative Universes and Complex Analysis
Rachel Hall and Kresimir Josic
Trajectories of Hooke's Law in the complex plane, which are conic sections, are mapped onto trajectories of
Newton's Law of Gravitation via the transformation z -> z^2. Newton's Law of Ellipses follows from a
geometric analysis of this map. An extension of this approach reveals a similar relation between more general
pairs of power laws of centripetal attraction. This material is suitable for an undergraduate Complex Analysis
class. (Appeared in SIAM Review)
PDF
|
|
|
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Current Address: Department of Mathematics, PGH Building, University of Houston, Houston, Texas 77204-3008
Phone: (713) 743-3500 - Fax: (713) 743-3505
|
|
