Narrow Results

We present a method for finding symbolic dynamics for a planar diffeomorphism with a homoclinic tangle. The method only requires a finite piece of tangle, which can be computed with available numerical techniques. The symbol space is naturally given by components of the complement of the stable and unstable manifolds. The shift map defining the dynamics is a factor of a subshift of finite type, and is obtained from a graph related to the tangle. The entropy of this shift map is a lower bound for the topological entropy of the planar diffeomorphism. We give examples arising from the Hénon family.

This paper considers a class of three-dimensional systems constructed by rotating some planar symmetric polynomial vector fields. It shows that this class of systems has infinitely many distinct types of knotted periodic orbits, which lie on a family of invariant torus. For two three-dimensional systems, exact explicit parametric representations of the knotted periodic orbits are given. For their perturbed systems, the chaotic behavior is discussed by using two different methods.

We studied a three-dimensional autonomous polynomial equation. This equation is with a parameter, which we denote as μ. At μ = 0, the system has two saddles, the stable and unstable manifolds of which coincide. We present a comprehensive study on the dynamics of the system for small μ ≠ 0 in a small neighborhood of the unperturbed stable and unstable manifolds, where one of the heteroclinic connections of the two saddles are broken by small perturbations and strange attractors are created.

In this study, bifurcations of an invariant closed curve (ICC) generated from a homoclinic connection of a saddle fixed point are analyzed in a planar map. Such bifurcations are called homoclinic cycle (HCC) bifurcations of the saddle fixed point. We examine the HCC bifurcation structure and the properties of the generated ICC. A planar map that can accurately control the stable and unstable manifolds of the saddle fixed point is designed for this analysis and the results indicate that the HCC bifurcation depends upon a product of two eigenvalues of the saddle fixed point, and the generated ICC is a chaotic attractor with a positive Lyapunov exponent.

A flow in three-dimensions is universal if the periodic orbits contains all knots and links. Universal flows were shown to exist by Ghrist, and can be constructed by means of templates. Likewise, a planar diffeomorphism is universal if it has a suspension flow which is a universal flow. In this paper we prove the existence of a homoclinic trellis type for which any representative diffeomorphism is universal. This trellis type is remarkable in that it has zero entropy, and only two homoclinic intersection points.

The transport of passive tracers inside a two-dimensional differentially heated cavity is investigated numerically in the oscillatory regime, both in the vicinity and far from the corresponding Hopf bifurcation. Differential transport at low Rayleigh number is essentially linked to the exchange of fluid between two symmetric homoclinic tangles. A hierarchy of models is developed for the transient homogenisation process, the third order model reproducing well the observed behaviour. The vertical transport is efficient only at higher values of the Rayleigh number once all invariant tori have resonated. Signatures of non-hyperbolicity are shown by monitoring the variance of the coarse-grained concentration vs. time.