Narrow Results

We analyze the dynamics of the Poincaré map associated with the center manifold equations of double-diffusive thermosolutal convection near a codimension-four bifurcation point when the values of the thermal and solute Rayleigh numbers, $R_T$ and $R_S$, are comparable. We find that the bifurcation sequence of the Poincaré map is analogous to that of the (continuous) Lorenz equations. Chaotic solutions are found, and the emergence of strange attractors is shown to occur via three different routes: (1) a discrete Lorenz-like attractor of the three-dimensional Poincaré map of the four-dimensional center manifold equations that forms as the result of a quasi-periodic homoclinic explosion; (2) chaos that follows quasi-periodic intermittency occurring near saddle-node bifurcations of tori; and, (3) chaos that emerges from the destruction of a 2-torus, preceded by frequency locking.

There are few explicit examples in the literature of vector fields exhibiting observable chaos that may be proved analytically. This paper reports numerical experiments performed for an explicit two-parameter family of $𝕊𝕆(2)\oplus {\mathbb{Z}}_2$-symmetric vector fields whose organizing center exhibits an attracting heteroclinic network linking two saddle-foci. Each vector field in the family is the restriction to ${𝕊}^3$ of a polynomial vector field in ${ℝ}^4$. We investigate global bifurcations due to symmetry-breaking and we detect strange attractors via a mechanism called Torus-Breakdown. We explain how an attracting torus gets destroyed by following the changes in the unstable manifold of a saddle-focus.

Although a complete understanding of the corresponding bifurcation diagram and the mechanisms underlying the dynamical changes is out of reach, we uncover complex patterns for the symmetric family under analysis, using a combination of theoretical tools and computer simulations. This article suggests a route to obtain rotational horseshoes and strange attractors; additionally, we make an attempt to elucidate some of the bifurcations involved in an Arnold tongue.