Graduation Year
2019
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Mathematics
Second Department
Physics
Reader 1
Adam Landsberg
Reader 2
Chris Towse
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
@ 2019 Julia L Ruiter
Abstract
Although dynamical systems have a multitude of classical uses in physics and applied mathematics, new research in theoretical computer science shows that dynamical systems can also be used as a highly secure method of encrypting data. Properties of Lorenz and similar systems of equations yield chaotic outputs that are good at masking the underlying data both physically and mathematically. This paper aims to show how Lorenz systems may be used to encrypt text and image data, as well as provide a framework for how physical mechanisms may be built using these properties to transmit encrypted wave signals.
Recommended Citation
Ruiter, Julia, "Practical Chaos: Using Dynamical Systems to Encrypt Audio and Visual Data" (2019). Scripps Senior Theses. 1389.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/1389
Included in
Dynamic Systems Commons, Non-linear Dynamics Commons, Other Physics Commons, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics Commons
Comments
Almost everyone is familiar with the idea of the ``Butterfly Effect'': the idea that one small perturbation in the present can set the future on a wildly different course; this is the principle that defines the behavior of chaotic, dynamical systems. It is this unpredicability in dynamical systems that makes it a promising method of encrypting all kinds of data from sound bytes to images.