The Stochastic Guitar

Abstract

Stochastic physics is a central pillar of modern research in many fields, but is rarely presented to undergrad students in a hands-on experiment. Here, we demonstrate how a human-scale, simple, and affordable experimental setup can be used to fill this gap, and to illustrate many advanced concepts in a step-by-step approach. Based on a metal wire (such as a guitar string), our setup facilitates the observation of fluctuating dynamics in the time domain, the frequency spectrum, and in the rotating phase space. The latter allows introducing time-dependent cross-correlations between the sine and cosine quadratures of the stochastic motion, which feature deterministic order even in the absence of any deterministic forces.