elliptic umbilic

[sol72us@...]

this is an image you may have already seen,
it comes from a april'01 physics today
article called
"why are special functions special" by
sir michael berry:
http://www.sdsc.edu/~kimb/chem190sf.html

sir michael berry studies the functions
affecting the ability to focus light to
as small a point as possible.

this is a cross-section from one of these
functions. i thought of mawk's comments
regarding the "star of david" when i looked
at it. indeed there are six contrasing points
near the center that seem to fall on a circle.
(i wonder what the 3d function looks like.)
-pat

[sol72us]

it amazes me how the intersections within the triquetra
are oh so similar to sir michael berry's diffraction
catastrophe - cross section of the elliptic umbilic,
that was shared last year but lost, so here it is on
page 2...look: love and light! (there's even a reference
for higher transcendental functions is in the paper, #2)
catastophically, pat

http://www.phy.bris.ac.uk/research/theory/berry/the_papers/berry326.pd
f