On the Stability of a Periodic Hamiltonian System with One Degree of Freedom in a Transcendental Case

The stability of an equilibrium of a nonautonomous Hamiltonian system with one degree of freedom whose Hamiltonian function depends 2π-periodically on time and is analytic near the equilibrium is considered. The multipliers of the system linearized around the equilibrium are assumed to be multiple and equal to 1 or–1. Sufficient conditions are found under which a transcendental case occurs, i.e., stability cannot be determined by analyzing the finite-power terms in the series expansion of the Hamiltonian about the equilibrium. The equilibrium is proved to be unstable in the transcendental case.     

On the orbital stability of pendulum-like oscillations and rotations of a symmetric rigid body with a fixed point

We deal with the problem of orbital stability of planar periodic motions of a dynamically symmetric heavy rigid body with a fixed point. We suppose that the center of mass of the body lies in the equatorial plane of the ellipsoid of inertia. Unperturbed periodic motions are planar pendulum-like oscillations or rotations of the body around a principal axis keeping a fixed horizontal position. Local coordinates are introduced in a neighborhood of the unperturbed periodic motion and equations of the perturbed motion are obtained in Hamiltonian form. Regions of orbital instability are established by means of linear analysis. Outside the above-mentioned regions, nonlinear analysis is performed taking into account terms up to degree 4 in the expansion of the Hamiltonian in a neighborhood of unperturbed motion. The nonlinear problem of orbital stability is reduced to analysis of stability of a fixed point of the symplectic map generated by the equations of the perturbed motion. The coefficients of the symplectic map are determined numerically. Rigorous results on the orbital stability or instability of unperturbed motion are obtained by analyzing these coefficients. The orbital stability is investigated analytically in two limiting cases: small amplitude oscillations and rotations with large angular velocities when a small parameter can be introduced.     

On the stability of a nonautonomous hamiltonian system under a parametric resonance of essential type

The problem of the stability of the equilibrium position of an nonautonomous Hamiltonian system with periodic coefficients, in which two multipliers of the linearized system are equal, is analyzed in a nonlinear setting. The stability in the finite approximation, and formal Liapunov stability or instability are proved, depending on the Hamiltonian's coefficients.     

The stability of periodic Hamiltonian systems with multiple fourth-order resonance

The problem of the stability of the periodic motion of a non-linear periodic Hamiltonian system is considered in the case of pure imaginary characteristic exponents which also satisfy several fourth-order resonance conditions. Conditions for stability and instability are formulated based on terms of the third order inclusive. Some conclusions generalize results obtained previously [1].     

Non-linear oscillations of a Hamiltonian system with 2:1 resonance

Non-linear oscillations of an autonomous Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom in the neighbourhood of a stable equilibrium are considered. It is assumed that the frequency ratio of the linear oscillations is close to or equal to two, and that the Hamiltonian is sign-definite in the neighbourhood of the equilibrium. A solution is presented to the problem of the orbital stability of periodic motions emanating from the equilibrium position. Conditionally periodic motions of an approximate system are analysed taking into account terms of order up to and including three in the normalized Hamiltonian. The KAM theory is used to consider the problem of maintaining these motions taking into account fourth- and higher-order terms in the series expansion of the Hamiltonian in a sufficiently small neighbourhood of the equilibrium. The results are used to investigate non-linear oscillations of an elastic pendulum.     

Resonant periodic motions of Hamiltonian systems with one degree of freedom when the Hamiltonian is degenerate

The motions of a non-autonomous Hamiltonian system with one degree of freedom which is periodic in time and where the Hamiltonian contains a small parameter is considered. The origin of coordinates of the phase space is the equilibrium position of the unperturbed or complete system, which is stable in the linear approximation. It is assumed that there is degeneracy in the unperturbed Hamiltonian when account is taken of terms no higher than the fourth degree (the frequency of the small linear oscillations depends on the amplitude) and, in this case, one of the resonances of up to the fourth order inclusive is realized in the system. Model Hamiltonians are constructed for each case of resonance and a qualitative investigation of the motions of the model system is carried out. Using Poincaré's theory of periodic motions and KAM-theory, a rigorous solution is given of the problem of the existence, bifurcations and stability of the periodic motions of the initial system, which are analytic with respect to fractional powers of the small parameter. The resonant periodic motions (in the case of the degeneracy being considered) of a spherical pendulum with an oscillating suspension point are investigated as an application.     

A Study of the Motions of an Autonomous Hamiltonian System at a 1:1 Resonance

We examine the motions of an autonomous Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom in a neighborhood of an equilibrium point at a 1:1 resonance. It is assumed that the matrix of linearized equations of perturbed motion is reduced to diagonal form and the equilibrium is linearly stable. As an illustration, we consider the problem of the motion of a dynamically symmetric rigid body (satellite) relative to its center of mass in a central Newtonian gravitational field on a circular orbit in a neighborhood of cylindrical precession. The abovementioned resonance case takes place for parameter values corresponding to the spherical symmetry of the body, for which the angular velocity of proper rotation has the same value and direction as the angular velocity of orbital motion of the radius vector of the center of mass. For parameter values close to the resonance point, the problem of the existence, bifurcations and orbital stability of periodic rigid body motions arising from a corresponding relative equilibrium of the reduced system is solved and issues concerning the existence of conditionally periodic motions are discussed.     

An algorithm for normalizing Hamiltonian systems in the problem of the orbital stability of periodic motions

A constructive procedure is proposed for constructing equations of perturbed motion convenient for investigating the orbital stability of periodic motion in an autonomous Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom. An algorithm for normalizing these equations is described, and formulae for evaluating the coefficients of the normal form are presented. The results are used to investigate the stability of motion in certain special cases of the regular Grioli precession of a heavy rigid body with one fixed point.     

Non-linear oscillations of a hamiltonian system with one degree of freedom and fourth-order resonance

Non-linear oscillations of a 2π-periodic Hamiltonian system with one degree of freedom are considered . It is assumed that the origin of coordinates is an equilibrium position, the linearized system is assumed to be stable, its characteristic exponents ±iv are pure imaginary, and the value of 4v is close to an integer. When the methods of classical perturbation theory are used, the investigation reduces to an analysis of a model system which can be described by the typical Hamiltonian of problems on the motion of Hamiltonian systems with one degree of freedom in the case of fourth-order resonance. The system is analysed in detail. The results for the model system are applied to the total system using Poincaré's theory of periodic motion and the KAM-theory. The existence, number and stability of 8π-periodic motions of the initial system are investigated. Trajectories of motion which start in a fairly small neighbourhood of the origin of coordinates are bounded. An estimate of the size of that neighbourhood is given. The examples considered are of a point mass above a curve in the shape of an ellipse which collides with the curve, and plane non-linear oscillations of a satellite in an elliptical orbit in the case of fourth-order resonance.     

Hamiltonian fourfold 1:1 resonance with two rotational symmetries

In this communication we deal with the analysis of Hamiltonian Hopf bifurcations in 4-DOF systems defined by perturbed isotropic oscillators (1-1-1-1 resonance), in the presence of two quadratic symmetries I ₁ and I ₂. As a perturbation we consider a polynomial function with a parameter. After normalization, the truncated normal form gives rise to an integrable system which is analyzed using reduction to a one degree of freedom system. The Hamiltonian Hopf bifurcations are found using the ‘geometric method’ set up by one of the authors.      

Non-linear oscillations of a Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom with 2:1 resonance

The motions of an autonomous Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom close to an equilibrium position, stable in the linear approximation, are considered. It is assumed that in this neighbourhood the quadratic part of the Hamiltonian of the system is sign-variable, and the ratio of the frequencies of the linear oscillations are close to or equal to two. It is also assumed that the corresponding resonance terms in the third-degree terms of the Hamiltonian are small. The problem of the existence, bifurcations and orbital stability of the periodic motions of the system near the equilibrium position is solved. Conditionally periodic motions of the system are investigated. An estimate is obtained of the region in which the motions of the system are bounded in the neighbourhood of an unstable equilibrium in the case of exact resonance. The motions of a heavy dynamically symmetrical rigid body with a fixed point in the neighbourhood of its permanent rotations around the vertical for 2:1 resonance are considered as an application.     

On the Constructive Algorithm for Stability Analysis of an Equilibrium Point of a Periodic Hamiltonian System with Two Degrees of Freedom in the Second-order Resonance Case

This paper is concerned with a nonautonomous Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom whose Hamiltonian is a 2π-periodic function of time and analytic in a neighborhood of an equilibrium point. It is assumed that the system exhibits a secondorder resonance, i. e., the system linearized in a neighborhood of the equilibrium point has a double multiplier equal to ?1. The case of general position is considered when the monodromy matrix is not reduced to diagonal form and the equilibrium point is linearly unstable. In this case, a nonlinear analysis is required to draw conclusions on the stability (or instability) of the equilibrium point in the complete system.In this paper, a constructive algorithm for a rigorous stability analysis of the equilibrium point of the above-mentioned system is presented. This algorithm has been developed on the basis of a method proposed in [1]. The main idea of this method is to construct and normalize a symplectic map generated by the phase flow of a Hamiltonian system.It is shown that the normal form of the Hamiltonian function and the generating function of the corresponding symplectic map contain no third-degree terms. Explicit formulae are obtained which allow one to calculate the coefficients of the normal form of the Hamiltonian in terms of the coefficients of the generating function of a symplectic map.The developed algorithm is applied to solve the problem of stability of resonant rotations of a symmetric satellite.     

On homoclinic bifurcation emanating from Takens-Bogdanov points in Hamiltonian systems

The paper is devoted to studying the bifurcation of periodic and homoclinic orbits in a 2n-dimensional Hamiltonian system with 1 parameter from a TB-point (Hamiltonian saddle node). In addition to the proof of existence, the paper gives an expansion formula of the bifurcating homoclinic orbits. With the help of center manifold reduction and a blow up transformation, the problem is focused on studying a planar Hamiltonian system, the proof for the perturbed homoclinic and periodic orbits is elementary in the sense that it uses only implicit function arguments. Two applications to travelling waves in PDEs are shown.     

Periodic motions of a reversible second-order mechanical system: Application to the Sitnikov problem

A theory of the symmetric periodic motions (SPMs) of a reversible second-order system is presented which covers both oscillations and rotations. The structural stability property of the generating autonomous reversible system, which lies in the fact that the presence or absence of SPMs in a perturbed system is independent of the actual form of the “reversible” perturbations, is established. Both the case of the generation of SPMs from the family of SPMs of the generating system and birth cycle from the equilibrium state are investigated. Criteria of Lyapunov stability in a non-degenerate situation are obtained for the SPMs which are generated (in case of small values of the parameter). A method is proposed for constructing and investigating the Lyapunov stability of all the SPMs. The conditions for the existence of a cycle (symmetric and asymmetric) in the neighbourhood of a support “almost” resonance SPM are established for all cases of resonances. The theoretical results are applied to a study of the motion of a particle along a straight line which passes through the centre of mass of the system perpendicular to the plane of the identical attracting and simultaneously radiating main bodies (an extension of the Sitnikov problem) in the photogravitational version of the three-body problem. The circular problem is analysed and two different series of families of SPMs are found in the weakly elliptic problem. The instability of the equilibrium state is proved in the case of parametric resonance and the stability (and instability) domains are distinguished for arbitrary values of the eccentricity. All the SPMs with a period of 2π are constructed and the property of Lyapunov stability is investigated for these motions.     

Non-linear oscillations of a 1:1 resonance Hamiltonian system

The non-linear oscillations of an autonomous two-degree-of-freedom Hamiltonian system in the neighbourhood of its stable equilibrium position are considered. It is assumed that the Hamilton function is sign-definite in the neighbourhood of the equilibrium position and that the values of the frequencies of its linear oscillations are equal or close to one another (1:1 resonance). The investigation is carried out using the example of the problem of the motion of a dynamically symmetrical rigid body (satellite) about its centre of mass in a circular orbit in a central Newtonian gravitational field. In this problem there is relative equilibrium of the rigid body in the orbital system of coordinates, for which its axis of dynamic symmetry is directed along the velocity vector of the centre of mass. Resonance occurs when the ratio of the polar and equatorial principal central moments of inertia is equal to 4/3 or is close to it. The problem of the existence, bifurcation and orbital stability of the periodic motions of a rigid body generated from its relative equilibrium is solved. Some aspects of the existence of quasiperiodic motions are also considered.     

The mixing of a viscous fluid in a layer between rotating eccentric cylinders

The motion of an incompressible viscous fluid in a thin layer between two circular cylinders, inserted into one another, with parallel axes is investigated. The cylinders rotate relative to one another about an axis parallel to the axes of the cylinders. The stream function of the unsteady plane-parallel flow that occurs is found by solving the boundary-value problem for the equations of hydrodynamic lubrication theory. The motion of the fluid particles is found from the solution of a non-autonomous time-periodic Hamiltonian system with a Hamiltonian equal to the stream function. The positions of fluid particles over time intervals that are a multiple of the period of rotation (Poincaré points) are calculated. The set of points is investigated using a Poincaré mapping on the phase flow. The observed transition to chaotic motion is related to the mixing of the fluid particles and is investigated both numerically and using a mapping, calculated with an accuracy up to the third power of the small eccentricity. The optimum mode of motion is observed when the area of the mixing (chaos) region reaches its highest value.     

Surf-Riding Threshold of Ships in Random Seas

A possible stability failure in ship dynamics is surf-riding of the ship in waves followed by broaching-to. In order to exclude broaching one thus seeks to prevent the ship from surf-riding. We analyze the surf-riding problem of a ship in random seas as a weakly perturbed Hamiltonian system, where the excitation owing to irregular sea waves is modeled as a Gaussian process. Then, an approximation of the probability of surf-riding in irregular sea waves is obtained using the stochastic Melnikov's method, by which means transitions from the asymmetric periodic surging motion to the surf-riding equilibrium are identified. (© 2013 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

The periodic motions of a non-autonomous Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom at parametric resonance of the fundamental type

The motion of an almost autonomous Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom, 2π-periodic in time, is considered. It is assumed that the origin is an equilibrium position of the system, the linearized unperturbed system is stable, and its characteristic exponents ±iωj (j = 1,2) are pure imaginary. In addition, it is assumed that the number 2ω₁ is approximately an integer, that is, the system exhibits parametric resonance of the fundamental type. Using Poincaré's theory of periodic motion and KAM-theory, it is shown that 4π-periodic motions of the system exist in a fairly small neighbourhood of the origin, and their bifurcation and stability are investigated. As applications, periodic motions are constructed in cases of parametric resonance of the fundamental type in the following problems: the plane elliptical restricted three-body problem near triangular libration points, and the problem of the motion of a dynamically symmetrical artificial satellite near its cylindrical precession in an elliptical orbit of small eccentricity.     

Invariant tori in perturbed three vortex motion

The motion of three point vortices in an ideal fluid in a plane comprises a Hamiltonian dynamical system – one that is completely integrable, so it exhibits numerous periodic orbits, and quasiperiodic orbits on invariant tori. Certain perturbations of three vortex dynamics, such as three vortex motion in a half-plane, are also Hamiltonian, but not completely integrable. Yet these perturbed systems may still have periodic trajectories and invariant tori close to those for the unperturbed dynamics. Extending recent work by the authors [4], invariant 2-tori approximating those for the unperturbed system are located and analyzed using a combination of classical analysis, asymptotics, and Hamiltonian methods. It is shown that the results and approximation methods used are applicable to several perturbations of three vortex dynamics such as three vortices in a half-plane, the restricted four vortex problem in the plane, and three coaxial vortex rings in 3-space. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Limit cycles under perturbations of a quadratic Hamiltonian system

The perturbed quadratic Hamiltonian system is reduced to a Lienard system with a small parameter for which a Dulac function depending on it is constructed. This permits one to estimate the number of limit cycles of the perturbed system for all sufficiently small parameter values. To find the Dulac function, we use the solution of a linear programming problem. The suggested method is used for studying three specific perturbed systems that have exactly two limit cycles, i.e., the distribution 2 or (0, 2), and one system with distribution (1, 1).