  Topological chaos relies on the periodic motion of obstacles in a
two-dimensional flow in order to form nontrivial braids. This motion generates
exponential stretching of material lines, and hence efficient mixing. Boyland
et al. [P. L. Boyland, H. Aref, and M. A. Stremler, J. Fluid Mech. 403, 277
(2000)] have studied a specific periodic motion of rods that exhibits
topological chaos in a viscous fluid. We show that it is possible to extend
their work to cases where the motion of the stirring rods is topologically
trivial by considering the dynamics of special periodic points that we call
ghost rods, because they play a similar role to stirring rods. The ghost rods
framework provides a new technique for quantifying chaos and gives insight into
the mechanisms that produce chaos and mixing. Numerical simulations for Stokes
flow support our results.
