research
A Tiny Deformation Makes the Light Rings Reconnect
Catastrophe theory identifies cusp and butterfly points where optical vortex rings nucleate, collapse or reconnect under minute beam changes.
Summary
Catastrophe theory identifies cusp and butterfly points where optical vortex rings nucleate, collapse or reconnect under minute beam changes.
Optical vortex rings usually change smoothly when beam parameters move slightly, but near degenerate critical points the topology can jump. A theoretical analysis of elliptic Gaussian beam superpositions identifies cusp and butterfly catastrophes where minute elliptic deformations cause rings to reconnect, appear or collapse to a point. The work supplies a classification of these abrupt transformations and connects singular optics to catastrophe theory. It is a theoretical study of modeled beam configurations rather than a report of a new deployed optical device.
Why it matters
Catastrophe theory identifies cusp and butterfly points where optical vortex rings nucleate, collapse or reconnect under minute beam changes.
Limits and context
No additional limitation was separately recorded.
Key claims
Catastrophe theory identifies cusp and butterfly points where optical vortex rings nucleate, collapse or reconnect under minute beam changes.
Evidence: source-2026-10-29-016
Sources
- arXiv preprint 2610.37615, original v1arXiv · primary research
Corrections
No corrections have been recorded for this story.