Erlin Noviyanti

Contest entry

Before I knew about anomalous diffusion, I had already created this piece, inspired by the pareidolia emerging from random lines on crumpled paper. Later, I realized that my artwork also reflected the stochastic principles of anomalous diffusion. The process itself mirrors the stochastic nature of complex dynamics.

By crumpling the paper and tracing each crease with a pencil, the resulting patterns resemble irregular trajectories or a fractal-like network of particles in a stochastic system. These patterns reflect the irregularity of stochastic motion in disordered media, mathematically described through random walks such as the Lévy process or Fractional Brownian motion—both used to model anomalous diffusion. 

In anomalous diffusion, particle movement deviates from classical diffusion (x² ~ t), instead following a power law:

(x²(t)) ~ t^α

where α > 1 indicates superdiffusion, α < 1 indicates subdiffusion.

Additionally, the colour distribution in this work reflects the probability distribution of particle positions in a stochastic system. The seemingly random colours arise from the underlying structure of the paper folds, much like how particle trajectories form based on system dynamics. This interplay of perception, randomness, and mathematical structure captures the essence of anomalous diffusion, revealing how disorder creates hidden patterns in complex physical systems.