Python code for the animation of a magnetic catastrophe machine, V1.2.2

An interactive Python program demonstrating the relaxation of the cluster described in the paper "Andrew D.P. Smith, Peter T. Haugen, Boyd F. Edwards: Hysteretic transition between states of a filled hexagonal magnetic dipole cluster, Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials 549 (2022): 168991", and a related comment https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2203.13670 . There a hysteretic transition between two stable arrangements of a cluster of seven dipoles is presented. The relative strength of the center dipole in a hexagonal arrangement serves as the bifurcation parameter. This experiment is great for classroom demonstrations, because it shows with its spontaneous symmetry breaking, the bi-stability, and the two different bifurcations leading to discontinuous jumps almost all of the elementary features of static nonlinear systems.In Version 1.2.2, a movie of a real machine made from seven magnets is provided, which can be presented within the Python animation. Additional features are added to the interactive part of the software to simulate that the dipoles forming the hexagon in the experiment are restricted to the x-y-plane due to the ball bearings