Colloquia

Water wave patterns behind ships fuel human curiosity because they are both beautiful and easily observed.  These patterns called wakes were famously described in 1887 by Lord Kelvin.  According to Kelvin, the feather-like appearance of the wake is universal and the entire wake is confined within a 39 degree angle.  While such wakes have been observed, deviations from Kelvin’s predictions have also been reported.  In this talk summarizing my work with UVA alumnus Jonathan Colen I will present a quantitative reasoning based on classical surface water wave theory that explains why some wakes are similar to Kelvin’s prediction, and why others are less so.  The central result is a classification of wake patterns which all can be understood in terms of the problem originally treated by Kelvin.