Winding spirals, which wrap around themselves assuming different shapes depending on the perspective from which they are looked at: the first jewels of chaos have this decidedly unusual appearance, inspired by the mathematical theory that describes complex systems such as meteorological phenomena, the dynamics of the work or the complex network of connections that regulate the functioning of the brain.
Described in the Chaos magazine, the jewels are due to the Italian research group of the University of Calabria, made up of Eleonora Bilotta, Francesca Bertacchini and Pietro Pantano.
Printed in 3D, the jewels are based on the Chua circuit, the electronic system famous for being the first physical, mathematical and experimental demonstration of chaos: instead of a traditional circuit, which produces a current subject to regular oscillations, this circuit has oscillations which they never repeat.
"These chaotic configurations, called 'strange attractors', are complex structures never observed before", says Bilotta. They are structures, he adds, "extraordinarily beautiful, which continuously change shape depending on the point of view from which they are observed. The jewels are there seemed to you the best way to interpret the beauty of chaotic shapes".
They are such particular shapes that it was difficult to make them with the techniques traditionally used by goldsmiths.
With 3D printing it has instead been possible to represent them in all the details and allows to obtain molds that goldsmiths can use.
The jewels of chaos can also be used as teaching tools: by building a Chua circuit they can manipulate these chaotic structures until their point of origin is identified.
The production of these jewels is only a first step: the next stage will be to use spheres instead of lines.