Ferrofluids, complex particle dynamics and braid description

Abstract Finely divided magnetic matter is important in many areas of science and technology. A special sub-class of systems are made up of freely moving particles suspended in a carrier liquid where the magnetic interactions play an important role in the actual structure formation and dynamical behaviour. These include ferrofluids, which are colloids of magnetic particles dispersed in carrier fluids, magnetic micro-beads, which are micrometer sized plastic beads loaded with iron oxide, and nonmagnetic particles dispersed in ferrofluids, forming the so-called “magnetic holes”. How, in a simple and forceful way, is it possible to characterise the dynamics of systems with several moving components like dispersed magnetic particles subjected to external magnetic fields? The methods based on the theory of braids may provide the answer. Braid theory is a sub-field of mathematics known as topology. It involves classifying different ways of tracing curves in space. The topological description of braids thus provides a simple and concise language for describing the dynamics of a system of moving particles as if they perform a complicated dance as they move about one another, and the braid encodes the choreography of this dance.