Observation of a strange attractor

Author :J.C. Roux, Reuben H. Simoy, and Harry L. Swinney
Publication :Physica D:Nonlinear Phenomena
Publisher :North-Holand Publishing Company
Volume :8
Pages :257-266
Year :1983

Phase space portraits have been constructed and analyzed for noisy (nonperiodic) data obtained in an experiment on a nonequilibrium homogenous chemical reaction.  The phase space trajectories define a limit set that is an ‘attractor’? ‘ following a perturbation, the trajectory quickly returns to the attracting set.  This attracting set is shown to be ‘strange’? ‘ nearby trajectories separate exponentially on the average.  Moreover, the Poincaré sections exhibit the stretching and folding that is characteristic of strange attractors.