Magnus expansion

Imagine you are playing with a spinning top. When you push the top, it spins around and around. The faster it spins, the harder it is to keep it going in a straight line. This is because the spinning top creates a force that pushes it to the side, called the Magnus force.

The Magnus expansion is a special way of explaining this force using math. It is like a big puzzle where we try to break down the forces that affect the spinning top into smaller pieces that we can understand.

For example, we can break down the spinning top's speed into parts: the speed in the direction it is spinning, and the speed in the direction it is moving. We can also break down the Magnus force into parts: a force pushing up or down, and a force pushing left or right.

Once we have broken down all the different parts, we can put them back together using fancy math equations called series. These equations help us to see how the different parts affect each other and how they change over time as the spinning top slows down.

In summary, the Magnus expansion is a way of breaking down and understanding the complicated forces that affect a spinning object using math equations called series. It helps scientists and engineers understand how to design better spinning objects, like airplanes or rockets.