Make Chirps vs Physarum

This educational app displays gravitational wave chirps created by mergers of massive black holes in several different ways, giving users an intuitive understanding of these exotic disturbances of space-time itself produced by cataclysmic events in distant galaxies. FEATURES: • Simulation: Experience the intricate behavior of gravitational waves through physics simulation of inspiralling black holes that merge to form a final black hole which then “shakes off” its excess energy. • Visualizations: See the essence of gravitational waves via waveform plots, frequency evolutions, and spectrograms, to understand the patterns and how they depend on black hole masses. • Auditory Experience: Listen closely as you hear the evolution of gravitational waves, detecting the characteristic increase in time in strength and frequency. Try varying masses to see how pitch is affected. • Dynamic Animations: Witness the captivating dance of black holes in collision animations. Explore the propagation of these waves through space-time with mesmerizing spiral animations. • Educational Insights: Gain a comprehensive understanding of gravitational waves and the pioneering work of LIGO through informative text pages, enhancing your knowledge of these cosmic phenomena. COMPATIBILITY Compatible with iPhone and iPad, iOS 16 or later. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Supported by the National Science Foundation with grant PHY-2110181.

Explore artificial life through a living, flowing simulation inspired by Physarum polycephalum, the slime mold famous for forming networks, solving paths, and showing intelligence without a brain. Physarum turns simple local rules into complex motion. Thousands of agents sense trails, turn, move, and deposit new traces. As the field evolves, branching networks, waves, and organic textures emerge in real time. Use Physarum to: - Tune sensor distance, turn angle, movement, and trail strength - Paint into the field and guide the simulation by touch - Explore chaotic, branching, and self-organizing patterns - Save and restore interesting agents, fields, and rules - Create vivid generative visuals with color controls It is part science toy, part generative art studio, and part meditative visual instrument. Whether you study emergent systems, teach artificial life, or simply enjoy hypnotic motion, Physarum gives you a hands-on way to watch complexity grow from simple behavior.