attractor

American  

[uh-trak-ter] / əˈtræk tər /

noun

1. a person or thing that attracts.

2. Physics. a state or behavior toward which a dynamic system tends to evolve, represented as a point or orbit in the system's phase space.

---

attractor Scientific  

/ ə-trăk′tər /

1. A set of states of a dynamic physical system toward which that system tends to evolve, regardless of the starting conditions of the system.

2. ◆ A point attractor is an attractor consisting of a single state. For example, a marble rolling in a smooth, rounded bowl will always come to rest at the lowest point, in the bottom center of the bowl; the final state of position and motionlessness is a point attractor.

3. ◆ A periodic attractor is an attractor consisting of a finite or infinite set of states, where the evolution of the system results in moving cyclically through each state. The ideal orbit of a planet around a star is a periodic attractor, as are periodic oscillations. A periodic attractor is also called a limit-cycle.

4. ◆ A strange attractor is an attractor for which the evolution through the set of possible physical states is nonperiodic (chaotic), resulting in an evolution through a set of states defining a fractal set. Most real physical systems (including the actual orbits of planets) involve strange attractors.

---

Etymology

Origin of attractor

First recorded in 1645–55

Example Sentences

Normally, the embryo develops a short-time attractor as a line -- this is where the main body axis forms.

From Science Daily • May 28, 2024

"Wrath of Khan" revolved around a vendetta, a more reliable attractor for moviegoers than a story about a speculative concept.

From Salon • Jul. 1, 2023

The researchers also tested turpentine, a bear attractor, and the ticks despised it as well.

From New York Times • Feb. 1, 2023

Again, they found a torus, a shape that persisted regardless of the rat's environment or state of being, a finding that supports the theory of continuous attractor networks.

From Scientific American • Sep. 26, 2022

As if by magic, a machine appeared, a "small" machine of two-hundred-foot length, modified slightly in some parts, its bottom flattened, and equipped with an attractor anchor.

From Invaders from the Infinite by Campbell, John Wood