Physicists observe magnetic 'devil's staircase'
Wednesday, June 24, 2015 - 08:30
in Physics & Chemistry
(Phys.org)—Many hiking trails feature a "devil's staircase"—a set of steps that are often steep and difficult to climb. The devil's staircase is also the name of a mathematical function whose graph exhibits a jagged step-like organization reminiscent of a real staircase, although in a highly ordered fractal pattern. Devil's staircase behavior emerges in a variety of areas, such as in crystals, phase transitions, and statistical physics.