CHAOTIC REGIMES, POST-BIFURCATION DYNAMICS, AND COMPETITIVE MODES FOR A GENERALIZED DOUBLE HOPF NORMAL FORM

We discuss the post-bifurcation dynamics of the general double Hopf normal form, which allows us to study two intermittent routes to chaos (routes following either (i) subcritical or (ii) supercritical Hopf or double Hopf bifurcations). In particular, the route following supercritical bifurcations is somewhat subtle. Such behavior following repeated Hopf bifurcations is well-known and widely observed, including the classical Ruelle–Takens and quasiperiodic routes to chaos. However, it has not, to the best of our knowledge, been considered in the context of the double Hopf normal form, although it has been numerically observed and tracked in the post-double-Hopf regime.

We then apply the method of competitive modes to verify parameter regimes for which the double Hopf normal form exhibits chaotic behavior. Such an analysis is useful, as it allows us to potentially identify specific parameter regimes for which the system may exhibit strange or irregular behavior, something which would be extremely difficult otherwise in a system with so many parameters. Indeed, it is conjectured that for parameter sets with two of the square-mode frequencies competitive or nearly competitive, chaotic behavior is likely to be observed in the system. We apply the method of competitive modes to two representative cases where intermittent chaos is found, and the competitive mode analysis there seems to verify the occurrence of chaos in each of the two types of regimes.