The symmetric periodic orbits for the two-electron atom

We analyse the existence of symmetric periodic orbits of the two-electron atom. The results obtained show that there exist six families of periodic orbits that can be prolonged from a continuum of periodic symmetric orbits. The main technique applied in this study is the continuation method of Poincaré.     

Cycling chaotic attractors in two models for dynamics with invariant subspaces

Nonergodic attractors can robustly appear in symmetric systems as structurally stable cycles between saddle-type invariant sets. These saddles may be chaotic giving rise to "cycling chaos." The robustness of such attractors appears by virtue of the fact that the connections are robust within some invariant subspace. We consider two previously studied examples and examine these in detail for a number of effects: (i) presence of internal symmetries within the chaotic saddles, (ii) phase-resetting, where only a limited set of connecting trajectories between saddles are possible, and (iii) multistability of periodic orbits near bifurcation to cycling attractors. The first model consists of three cyclically coupled Lorenz equations and was investigated first by Dellnitz et al. [Int. J. Bifurcation Chaos Appl. Sci. Eng. 5, 1243-1247 (1995)]. We show that one can find a "false phase-resetting" effect here due to the presence of a skew product structure for the dynamics in an invariant subspace; we verify this by considering a more general bi-directional coupling. The presence of internal symmetries of the chaotic saddles means that the set of connections can never be clean in this system, that is, there will always be transversely repelling orbits within the saddles that are transversely attracting on average. Nonetheless we argue that "anomalous connections" are rare. The second model we consider is an approximate return mapping near the stable manifold of a saddle in a cycling attractor from a magnetoconvection problem previously investigated by two of the authors. Near resonance, we show that the model genuinely is phase-resetting, and there are indeed stable periodic orbits of arbitrarily long period close to resonance, as previously conjectured. We examine the set of nearby periodic orbits in both parameter and phase space and show that their structure appears to be much more complicated than previously suspected. In particular, the basins of attraction of the periodic orbits appear to be pseudo-riddled in the terminology of Lai [Physica D 150, 1-13 (2001)].     

Periodic solutions of symmetric Kepler perturbations and applications

We investigate the existence of several families of symmetric periodic solutions as continuation of circular orbits of the Kepler problem for certain symmetric differentiable perturbations using an appropriate set of Poincaré-Delaunay coordinates which are essential in our approach. More precisely, we try separately two situations in an independent way, namely, when the unperturbed part corresponds to a Kepler problem in inertial cartesian coordinates and when it corresponds to a Kepler problem in rotating coordinates on ?³. Moreover, the characteristic multipliers of the symmetric periodic solutions are characterized. The planar case arises as a particular case. Finally, we apply these results to study the existence and stability of periodic orbits of the Matese-Whitman Hamiltonian and the generalized Størmer model.     

Critical Points Inside the Gaps of Ground State Laminations for Some Models in Statistical Mechanics

We consider models of interacting particles situated in the points of a discrete set Λ. The state of each particle is determined by a real variable. The particles are interacting with each other and we are interested in ground states and other critical points of the energy (metastable states). Under the assumption that the set Λ and the interaction are symmetric under the action of a group G—which satisfies some mild assumptions—, that the interaction is ferromagnetic, as well as periodic under addition of integers, and that it decays with the distance fast enough, it was shown in a previous paper that there are many ground states that satisfy an order property called self-conforming or Birkhoff. Under some slightly stronger assumptions all ground states satisfy this order property. Under the assumption that the interaction decays fast enough with the distance, we show that either the ground states form a one dimensional family or that there are other Birkhoff critical points which are not ground states, but lying inside the gaps left by ground states. This alternative happens if and only if a Peierls–Nabarro barrier vanishes. The main tool we use is a renormalized energy. In the particular case that the set Λ is a one dimensional lattice and that the interaction is just nearest neighbor, our result establishes Mather’s criterion for the existence of invariant circles in twist mappings in terms of the vanishing of the Peierls–Nabarro barrier. The work of RdlL was supported by NSF grants. The work of EV was supported by GNAMPA and MIUR Variational Methods and Nonlinear Differential Equations.     

Non-wandering points of vector fields and invariant sets of functions

It is shown that the existence of a set of functions invariant under the flow of a vector field X is useful in order to preclude the existence of non-wandering points of X (fixed points, periodic orbits, orbits dense in tori, etc.).     

Heteroclinic Connections Between Periodic Orbits in Planar Restricted Circular Three Body Problem. Part II

We present a method for proving the existence of symmetric periodic, heteroclinic or homoclinic orbits in dynamical systems with the reversing symmetry. As an application we show that the Planar Restricted Circular Three Body Problem (PCR3BP) corresponding to the Sun-Jupiter-Oterma system possesses an infinite number of symmetric periodic orbits and homoclinic orbits to the Lyapunov orbits. Moreover, we show the existence of symbolic dynamics on six symbols for PCR3BP and the possibility of resonance transitions of the comet. This extends earlier results by Wilczak and Zgliczynski [12]. Electronic Supplementary Material: Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at An erratum to this article is available at .     

Saddle-node bifurcation of invariant cones in 3D piecewise linear systems

In this work, the existence of a saddle-node bifurcation of invariant cones in three-dimensional continuous homogeneous piecewise linear systems is considered. First, we prove that invariant cones for this class of systems correspond one-to-one to periodic orbits of a continuous piecewise cubic system defined on the unit sphere. Second, let us give the conditions for which the sphere is foliated by a continuum of periodic orbits. The principal idea is looking for the periodic orbits of the continuum that persist when this situation is perturbed. To do this, we establish the relationship between the invariant cones of the three-dimensional system and the periodic orbits of two planar hybrid piecewise linear systems. Next, we define two functions whose zeros provide the invariant cones that persist under the perturbation. These functions will be called Melnikov functions and their properties allow us to state some results about the existence of invariant cones and other results about the existence of saddle-node bifurcations of invariant cones, which is the principal goal of this paper.     

Compact invariant sets of the Bianchi VIII and Bianchi IX Hamiltonian systems

In this Letter we prove that all compact invariant sets of the Bianchi VIII Hamiltonian system are contained in the set described by several simple linear equalities and inequalities. Moreover, we describe invariant domains in which the phase flow of this system has no recurrence property and show that there are no periodic orbits and neither homoclinic, nor heteroclinic orbits contained in the zero level set of its Hamiltonian. Similar results are obtained for the Bianchi IX Hamiltonian system.     

Dynamical ordering of symmetric non-Birkhoff periodic points in reversible monotone twist mappings

We study the coexistence of symmetric non-Birkhoff periodic orbits of C(1) reversible monotone twist mappings on the cylinder. We prove the equivalence of the existence of non-Birkhoff periodic orbits and that of transverse homoclinic intersections of stable and unstable manifolds of the fixed point. We derive the positional relation of symmetric Birkhoff and non-Birkhoff periodic orbits and obtain the dynamical ordering of symmetric non-Birkhoff periodic orbits. An extension of the Sharkovskii ordering to two-dimensional mappings has been carried out. In the proof of various properties of the mappings, reversibility plays an essential role. (c) 2002 American Institute of Physics.     

Nearly-integrable dissipative systems and celestial mechanics

The influence of dissipative effects on classical dynamical models of Celestial Mechanics is of basic importance. We introduce the reader to the subject, giving classical examples found in the literature, like the standard map, the Hénon map, the logistic mapping. In the framework of the dissipative standard map, we investigate the existence of periodic orbits as a function of the parameters. We also provide some techniques to compute the breakdown threshold of quasi-periodic attractors. Next, we review a simple model of Celestial Mechanics, known as the spin-orbit problem which is closely linked to the dissipative standard map. In this context we present the conservative and dissipative KAM theorems to prove the existence of quasi-periodic tori and invariant attractors. We conclude by reviewing some dissipative models of Celestial Mechanics. Among the rotational dynamics we consider the Yarkovsky and YORP effects; within the three-body problem we introduce the so-called Stokes and Poynting–Robertson effects.     

Periodic and Quasi-Periodic Orbits¶for the Standard Map

We consider both periodic and quasi-periodic solutions for the standard map, and we study the corresponding conjugating functions, i.e. the functions conjugating the motions to trivial rotations. We compare the invariant curves with rotation numbers ω satisfying the Bryuno condition and the sequences of periodic orbits with rotation numbers given by their convergents ω _N = p _N /q _N . We prove the following results for N→ ∞: (1) for rotation numbers ω _N N we study the radius of convergence of the conjugating functions and we find lower bounds on them, which tend to a limit which is a lower bound on the corresponding quantity for ω; (2) the periodic orbits consist of points which are more and more close to the invariant curve with rotation number ω; (3) such orbits lie on analytical curves which tend uniformly to the invariant curve. Received: 14 December 2001 / Accepted: 16 March 2002?Published online: 2 October 2002     

Orbits in the H(2)O molecule

We study the forms of the orbits in a symmetric configuration of a realistic model of the H(2)O molecule with particular emphasis on the periodic orbits. We use an appropriate Poincare surface of section (PSS) and study the distribution of the orbits on this PSS for various energies. We find both ordered and chaotic orbits. The proportion of ordered orbits is almost 100% for small energies, but decreases abruptly beyond a critical energy. When the energy exceeds the escape energy there are still nonescaping orbits around stable periodic orbits. We study in detail the forms of the various periodic orbits, and their connections, by providing appropriate stability and bifurcation diagrams. (c) 2001 American Institute of Physics.     

Periodic orbit analysis at the onset of the unstable dimension variability and at the blowout bifurcation

Many chaotic dynamical systems of physical interest present a strong form of nonhyperbolicity called unstable dimension variability (UDV), for which the chaotic invariant set contains periodic orbits possessing different numbers of unstable eigendirections. The onset of UDV is usually related to the loss of transversal stability of an unstable fixed point embedded in the chaotic set. In this paper, we present a new mechanism for the onset of UDV, whereby the period of the unstable orbits losing transversal stability tends to infinity as we approach the onset of UDV. This mechanism is unveiled by means of a periodic orbit analysis of the invariant chaotic attractor for two model dynamical systems with phase spaces of low dimensionality, and seems to depend heavily on the chaotic dynamics in the invariant set. We also described, for these systems, the blowout bifurcation (for which the chaotic set as a whole loses transversal stability) and its relation with the situation where the effects of UDV are the most intense. For the latter point, we found that chaotic trajectories off, but very close to, the invariant set exhibit the same scaling characteristic of the so-called on-off intermittency.     

Hamiltonian Systems Admitting a Runge–Lenz Vector and an Optimal Extension of Bertrand’s Theorem to Curved Manifolds

Bertrand’s theorem asserts that any spherically symmetric natural Hamiltonian system in Euclidean 3-space which possesses stable circular orbits and whose bounded trajectories are all periodic is either a harmonic oscillator or a Kepler system. In this paper we extend this classical result to curved spaces by proving that any Hamiltonian on a spherically symmetric Riemannian 3-manifold which satisfies the same conditions as in Bertrand’s theorem is superintegrable and given by an intrinsic oscillator or Kepler system. As a byproduct we obtain a wide panoply of new superintegrable Hamiltonian systems. The demonstration relies on Perlick’s classification of Bertrand spacetimes and on the construction of a suitable, globally defined generalization of the Runge–Lenz vector.     

Symmetry and Resonance in Periodic FPU Chains

The symmetry and resonance properties of the Fermi Pasta Ulam chain with periodic boundary conditions are exploited to construct a near-identity transformation bringing this Hamiltonian system into a particularly simple form. This “Birkhoff–Gustavson normal form” retains the symmetries of the original system and we show that in most cases this allows us to view the periodic FPU Hamiltonian as a perturbation of a nondegenerate Liouville integrable Hamiltonian. According to the KAM theorem this proves the existence of many invariant tori on which motion is quasiperiodic. Experiments confirm this qualitative behaviour. We note that one can not expect this in lower-order resonant Hamiltonian systems. So the periodic FPU chain is an exception and its special features are caused by a combination of special resonances and symmetries. Received: 25 July 2000 / Accepted: 20 December 2000     

Geodesics around oscillatons

Oscillatons are spherically symmetric solutions to the Einstein–Klein–Gordon equations. These solutions are non-singular, asymptotically flat, and with periodic time dependency. In this paper, we investigate the geodesic motion of particles moving around of an oscillatonic field. Bound orbits are found for particular values of the particles' angular momentum L and their initial radial position r ₀. It is found that the radial coordinate of such particles oscillates in time and we are able to predict the corresponding oscillating period as well as its amplitude. We carry out this study for the quadratic V(φ) = m _Φ Φ²/2 scalar field potential. We discuss possible ways to follow in order to connect this kind of studies with astrophysical observations.     

Multi-Dimensional Homoclinic Jumping and the Discretized NLS Equation

We consider a class of dynamical systems that arise frequently in multi-mode truncations and discretizations of partial differential equations, including the perturbed NLS. We develop a general method to detect the existence of multi-pulse solutions that are doubly asymptotic to an invariant manifold with two different time scales. We use our method together with some recent results of Li and McLaughlin to show the existence of several families of multi-pulse orbits for the Ablowitz-Ladik discretization of the perturbed NLS. These orbits include N-pulse heteroclinic orbits and N-pulse Šilnikov-type orbits for arbitrarily large N. Received: 1 September 1995 \ Accepted: 23 May 1997     

耦合不连续系统同步转换过程中的多吸引子共存

本文研究了耦合不连续系统的同步转换过程中的动力学行为, 发现由混沌非同步到混沌同步的转换过程中特殊的多吸引子共存现象. 通过计算耦合不连续系统的同步序参量和最大李雅普诺夫指数随耦合强度的变化, 发现了较复杂的同步转换过程: 临界耦合强度之后出现周期非同步态(周期性窗口); 分析了系统周期态的迭代轨道,发现其具有两类不同的迭代轨道: 对称周期轨道和非对称周期轨道, 这两类周期吸引子和同步吸引子同时存在, 系统表现出对初值敏感的多吸引子共存现象. 分析表明, 耦合不连续系统中的周期轨道是由于局部动力学的不连续特性和耦合动力学相互作用的结果. 最后, 对耦合不连续系统的同步转换过程进行了详细的分析, 结果表明其同步呈现出较复杂的转换过程.     

Phase locked periodic solutions and synchronous chaos in a model of two coupled molecular lasers

We study a rate-equation model for two coupled molecular lasers with a saturable absorber. A numerical bifurcation study shows the existence of isolas for in-phase periodic solutions as physical parameters change. In addition there are other non-isola families of in-phase, anti-phase and intermediate-phase periodic oscillations. In this model the unstable periodic orbits belonging to the in-phase isolas constitute a skeleton of the attractor, when chaotic synchronization sets in for a set of physically relevant control parameters.     

Branching of Cantor Manifolds of Elliptic Tori and Applications to PDEs

We consider infinite dimensional Hamiltonian systems. We prove the existence of “Cantor manifolds” of elliptic tori–of any finite higher dimension–accumulating on a given elliptic KAM torus. Then, close to an elliptic equilibrium, we show the existence of Cantor manifolds of elliptic tori which are “branching” points of other Cantor manifolds of higher dimensional tori. We also answer to a conjecture of Bourgain, proving the existence of invariant elliptic tori with tangential frequency along a pre-assigned direction. The proofs are based on an improved KAM theorem. Its main advantages are an explicit characterization of the Cantor set of parameters and weaker smallness conditions on the perturbation. We apply these results to the nonlinear wave equation.