Recurrence Quantification

Recurrence rate, determinism, laminarity, trapping time
dynamicalencoding-invariantdim phase space7 metrics

What It Measures

Does the signal ever return to places it's been before — and when it does, does it follow the same path?

Embeds the signal in 3D via delay coordinates, then asks: for every pair of points in the trajectory, are they close? The answers form a binary recurrence matrix whose texture reveals the dynamics.

Metrics

determinism

Of the recurrent points, what fraction form diagonal lines in the recurrence matrix? Diagonal lines mean: when the signal returns to a previous state, it follows the same trajectory it followed last time. All logistic periodic orbits score 1.0 (perfectly deterministic — they retrace their paths exactly). White noise scores 0.71 (some diagonal structure by chance). Constants score 0.0 (everything is recurrent, but there's no trajectory to follow).

laminarity

What fraction form vertical lines? Vertical lines mean: the signal gets stuck near one state for extended periods. Thue-Morse, Rule 30, and Symbolic Henon all score 1.0. Logistic period-4 scores 0.0 — it recurs but never lingers.

trapping_time

When the signal gets stuck, how long does it stay? Thue-Morse and Rule 30 score 249.5 (maximal trapping — the symbolic dynamics creates long laminar stretches). Exponential chirp scores 0 (never stays anywhere).

entropy_diagonal

How varied are the diagonal line lengths? Thue-Morse and Rule 30 maximize this at 6.2 bits: they revisit their trajectory at many different timescales. Simple periodic orbits have low entropy (one dominant recurrence period).

Atlas Rankings

avg_diagonal
SourceDomainValue
Logistic r=3.5 (Period-4)chaos250.0000
Logistic r=3.74 (Period-5 Window)chaos250.0000
Symbolic Henonexotic249.5000
···
Constant 0xFFnoise0.0000
Constant 0x00noise0.0000
Exponential Chirpexotic0.0000
determinism
SourceDomainValue
Logistic r=3.5 (Period-4)chaos1.0000
Logistic r=3.83 (Period-3 Window)chaos1.0000
Logistic r=3.2 (Period-2)chaos1.0000
···
Constant 0xFFnoise0.0000
Constant 0x00noise0.0000
Exponential Chirpexotic0.0000
entropy_diagonal
SourceDomainValue
Thue-Morseexotic6.2066
Rule 30exotic6.2066
Symbolic Henonexotic6.2066
···
Constant 0xFFnoise0.0000
Constant 0x00noise0.0000
Exponential Chirpexotic0.0000
laminarity
SourceDomainValue
Thue-Morseexotic1.0000
Rule 30exotic1.0000
Symbolic Henonexotic1.0000
···
Constant 0xFFnoise0.0000
Constant 0x00noise0.0000
Logistic r=3.5 (Period-4)chaos0.0000
max_diagonal
SourceDomainValue
Logistic r=3.83 (Period-3 Window)chaos497.0000
Rule 30exotic497.0000
Symbolic Henonexotic497.0000
···
Constant 0xFFnoise0.0000
Constant 0x00noise0.0000
Exponential Chirpexotic0.0000
recurrence_rate
SourceDomainValue
Quantum Walkquantum1.0000
Symbolic Lorenzexotic1.0000
Morse Codewaveform1.0000
···
Constant 0xFFnoise0.0000
Constant 0x00noise0.0000
Exponential Chirpexotic0.0000
trapping_time
SourceDomainValue
Thue-Morseexotic249.5000
Rule 30exotic249.5000
Symbolic Henonexotic249.5000
···
Constant 0xFFnoise0.0000
Constant 0x00noise0.0000
Logistic r=3.5 (Period-4)chaos0.0000

When It Lights Up

Recurrence Quantification drives the gap between the ordinal view's C3 (symbolic dynamics: high recurrence, high laminarity) and C2 (smooth correlated noise: low recurrence). In the solar eclipse VLF investigation, laminarity and determinism were significant only during the eclipse-active interval — the D-layer collapse changed the signal's recurrence structure in real time.

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