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Experiments using active control to reduce oscillations in the flow past a rectangular cavity have uncovered surprising phenomena: in the controlled system, often new frequencies of oscillation appear, and often the main frequency of oscillation is split into two sideband frequencies. The goal of this paper is to explain these effects using physics-based models, and to use these ideas to guide control design. We present a linear model for the cavity flow, based on the physical mechanisms of the familiar Rossiter model. Experimental data indicates that under many operating conditions, the oscillations are not self-sustained, but in fact are caused by amplification of external disturbances. We present some experimental results demonstrating the peak-splitting phenomena mentioned above, use the physics-based model to study the phenomena, and discuss fundamental performance limitations which limit the achievable performance of any control scheme.