Abstract
EVERYONE has seen the changing patterns of bright caustic lines traced on the sea bed or on the bottom of a swimming pool1,2. The caustics are formed when sunlight is focused after refraction by smooth waves on the water surface; similar caustics can result from reflection. Here we draw attention to one feature of these patterns: the frequent occurrence of junctions at which three caustics appear to meet (Fig. 1).
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References
Minnaert, M. The Nature of Light and Colour in the Open Air. (Dover, New York 1954). See also recent paintings by David Hockney, for example ‘Portrait of an artist (pool with two figures)’.
Stevens, P. S. Patterns in Nature (Peregrine Books, 1976).
D'Arcy Thompson, W. On Growth and Form (Cambridge University Press, 1971).
Thom, R. Structural Stability and Morphogenesis (Benjamin, New York, 1975).
Berry, M. V. Adv. Phys. 25, 1–26 (1976).
Duistermaat, J. J. Comm. Pure appl. Maths. XXVII, 207–281 (1974).
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BERRY, M., NYE, J. Fine structure in caustic junctions. Nature 267, 34–36 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/267034a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/267034a0
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