Manifold Sum: Correspondence Principle (5:47)
February 2004
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Manifold Sum: Correspondence Principle (5:47)February 2004
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Program References |
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This is a sonification/composition using the composer's own software for simulating physical particles interacting in potentials. This composition came from simulating 200 charged particles in a oscillating three-dimensional harmonic potential suspended in a dynamic viscous medium. The simulation was for about four minutes, four times. With random initial conditions, four different but related sonifications (manifolds) were created. These four soundfiles were then combined and slightly rearranged to create this composition.
It is interesting to note that near the middle of the piece the previously flowing tones begin to settle at specific frequencies of a harmonic spectrum. A flaw in the program created this effect: the phase integral was becoming so large that to change the audible frequency of a particle required larger changes in energy. (The reason why this created a harmonic spectrum remains unexplained.) This "feature" in the program has since been corrected, but in this composition it is used for affect. What began as continuous slowly becomes quantized. This somewhat references the correspondence principle: quantum analyses of systems at very large quantum numbers should begin to agree with classical analyses.
Sturm, Bob L., "Composing for an Ensemble of Atoms: The Metamorphosis of Scientific Experiment into Music," Organised Sound, Vol. 6, No. 2, Cambridge, UK, 2001.