Transcendentally small transversality in the rapidly forced pendulum

The rapidly forced pendulum equation with forcing sin((t/), where =<₀^p,p = 5, for ₀, sufficiently small, is considered. We prove that stable and unstable manifolds split and that the splitting distanced(t) in the ( ,t) plane satisfiesd(t) = sin(t/) sech(/2) +O( ₀ exp(–/2)) (2.3a) and the angle of transversal intersection,, in thet = 0 section satisfies 2 tan/2 = 2S _s = (/2) sech(/2) +O(( ₀ /) exp(–/2)) (2.3b) It follows that the Melnikov term correctly predicts the exponentially small splitting and angle of transversality. Our method improves a previous result of Holmes, Marsden, and Scheuerle. Our proof is elementary and self-contained, includes a stable manifold theorem, and emphasizes the phase space geometry.