Shilnikov bifurcation
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| Leonid Pavlovich Shilnikov and Andrey Shilnikov (2007), Scholarpedia, 2(8):1891. | revision #40141 [link to/cite this article] | |||||||||||||||||||
Curator: Dr. Leonid Pavlovich Shilnikov, Institute for Applied Mathematics and Cybernetics, Nizhni Novgorod, Russia
Curator: Dr. Andrey Shilnikov, Dept Mathematics, GSU, Atlanta, GA
Shilnikov or Šilnikov bifurcation stands for the homoclinic bifurcation of a saddle-focus equilibrium state (Fig.1) that elicits the onset of complex dynamics in a system.
Contents |
Saddle-focus
We consider such a saddle-focus at the origin in a 3D system:
- (1)
here its Lyapunov characteristic exponents are
,
,
, and
; smooth functions
, along with their first
partials, vanish at the origin. The stable manifold
of the saddle-focus
is 2D then, whereas the unstable one
is 1D. The manifold
is the union of
and two separatrices that tend to
as
. A homoclinic loop
of the saddle-focus is a trajectory bi-asymptotic to
as
, see Fig. 1. In other words,
.
Saddle value
Next we introduce the saddle value or quantity
and the saddle index
. Depending on the sign of
, or whether
is less or greater than
, the dynamics of (1) near the saddle-focus is simple when
, or complex if
.
The analysis of a homoclinic bifurcation is reduced to that of a Poincarè mapping defined by
the trajectories nearby the homoclinic loop
. For sake of simplicity we assume that the above system (1) is linear near the origin.
Global Mapping
First, in a small neighborhood of the saddle-focus the cross-section
is introduced as a transverse to the stable manifold
breaking
into the top
and bottom
components. The homoclinic loop hits
at some point
on
.
Next we need to determine the image of
on the second cross-section
transverse to
; it will have the shape of a spiral with countably many revolutions accumulating to
. Thus, the local map
from
is defined.
Its properties are solely determined by the characteristic exponents of the saddle-focus.
The solution
of (1) that starts from a
point
close to the origin at
and ends up at the point
when
is written as follows:
- (2)
We can now evaluate the flight time
of the trajectory connecting the cross-sections. Clearly, that this time increases logarithmically fast the closer the initial point is to the stable manifold
. Substituting
into the first equation of (2) gives
the local map
along the trajectories passing by near
:
- (3)
Observe that the map
is defined only for
, because the forward trajectory of an initial point on
below the stable manifold
leaves the saddle-focus and never comes back, unless there is a re-injection, for example, due to the occurrence of a simultaneousness or symmetric
second homoclinic loop, like in the case illustrated in Fig.8.
We can see from (3) that the image
on
looks like a "snake"
which spirals onto the point
, Fig. (2).
The essential part of the global map
from
back onto
is determined by its linear part. This map is defined along with the trajectories of (1) close to the remote segment of
away from
:
- (4)
so that combining it with (3) yields the return Poincarè mapping
:
- (5)
here
,
,
and
are some constants.
The image of
under
preserves the spiraling shape too. It intersects
infinitely many times around
, as shown in Fig. 2.
Let us strip the upper section
down into a countable number
of the segments
. The image
of is one half of a single curl of the "snake". It follows from (2) and (5) that the top of the
-th curl is estimated as :
Thus, when
, there is no intersection between
and
as the image of
is below its pre-image.
On the contrary, when
, the intersection
is non-empty and consists of two connected
components (Fig. 2). It is geometrically evident that there is a
fixed point of the return mapping
within each of the components. A contemporary
reader may observe that this leads to a formation of the topological Smale horseshoe [1963], which became a
de facto proof of dynamical chaos nowadays. Note that a fixed point of the
Poincarè first return map (5) corresponds to a periodic orbit of
the system (1).
Shilnikov theorem
Theorem [L. Shilnikov, 1965] If the saddle index
, i.e. the saddle value
, then there are countably many saddle periodic orbits in a neighborhood of the homoclinic loop
of the saddle-focus.
The condition
also known as the Shilnikov condition is imperative here,
because the structure of the phase space near the homoclinic loop in case
is trivial and leads only to the emergence of a single, stable periodic orbit from the homoclinic loop.
The bifurcations in the boundary case
, where small perturbations trigger the system between the homoclinic explosion (
) and the trivial dynamics (
), were first considered in [L.Belyakov, 1973].
The coordinates of the fixed points of the Poincarè map
(5) are found from the equation
- (6)
Plugging
, into the first equation of (6),
gives
- (7)
We see from it that when
there are infinitely many roots accumulating to zero:
- (8)
where
.
Some properties of of system with a saddle-focus can be revealed through
examining the following one-dimensional Poincarè mapping
- (9)
where
is the bifurcation parameter controlling the decomposition of the primary
homoclinic loop existing at
. The graph of this mapping is shown in Fig. 3 in both cases.
and
. It is clearly seen that in the latter case there are countably many fixed points near the primary homoclinic loop
at
. As this parameter is varied, they undergo saddle-node and period doubling bifurcations, while the system generates more complex homoclinic loops.The systems with homoclinic loops of a saddle-focus form a bifurcation manifold
of codimension one
in the Banach space of dynamical systems with a smooth topology. Hence, small smooth perturbations
of the original vector field break the homoclinic loop down in general. Then, in case
, the
transition over
leads to the emergence of a single stable periodic orbit from the homoclinic loop.
This means that the given bifurcation remains (1) in the Morse-Smale class of systems with simple
dynamics.
In contrast, the feature of case
is complex dynamics. As Fig. 2 shows that starting
with some
, the image
crosses the pre-image
twice like the Smale horseshoe. Therefore,
contains a hyperbolic set
homeomorphic to a Bernoulli subshift on two symbols. However, the nonwandering set
is comprised not only of the saddle periodic orbits that are entirely in a neighborhood of the homoclinic loop. Some other saddle trajectories exist here as well due to the jumps between distinct strips. For example, for a jump from
to
one needs the fulfillment of the inequality
. This makes the saddle index
be nothing else but a topological invariant, called an
-modulus. Its changes lead to transformations in the structure of the nonwandering set near the primary homoclinic loop. So, alone with [dis]appearances of hyperbolic subsets there occur bifurcations of periodic orbits as well as formations of homoclinic tangencies between the stable and unstable manifolds of the saddle periodic orbits, etc. Thus, the occurrence of a homoclinic loop of a saddle focus with
is a basic criteria of complex dynamics in any system.
Topological types of saddle-foci
Speaking of nonlinear dynamics applications, we need to distinguish the following three cases of saddle-foci in
high-dimensional systems by their leading characteristic exponents, Fig. 4:
-
,
,
and
such that the first saddle value
.
-
,
and
,
,
such that
.
-
,
,
and
,
,
such that
.
As one can notice from Fig. 3 that variations of the control parameter
give rise to period-doubling and saddle-node bifurcations of periodic orbits in the vicinity of the primary homoclinic loop of the saddle-focus.
One must then wonder: under what conditions does the system itself and close ones have
no stable periodic orbits near the homoclinic bifurcation? If there is at least one characteristic exponent in the right half-plane, then
the answer is positive by default. Otherwise, in case of where all other characterisric exponents of the saddle are further to left from the imaginary axes, we need to introduce the second saddle value, respectively in all three cases, as follows:
-
.
-
.
-
.
Thus, if
e, the system has no stable orbits near on
[Ovsyannikov and L. Shilnikov, 1987 and 1992, Glendenning and Sparrow, 1984]. On the contrary,
when
, then the systems with stable periodic orbits are dense
everywhere on
.
Routes to Shilnikov/spiral chaos
Next let us consider a bifurcation scenario leading to the formation of a spiral attractor.
This scenario is de-facto proven to be very typical for a plethora of models, including the Lorenz-84 model
[A.Shilnikov et al, 1994] that will illustrate it here. Initially, let a system
have a stable equilibrium state
for
. Next
undergoes a supercritical Andronov-Hopf bifurcation at
so that a stable periodic orbit
bifurcates from
. This orbit becomes the boundary of the unstable manifold
of the new saddle-focus for
that spirals onto
, Fig. 6(A). Suppose that as
increases further, the multipliers of
cross a unit circle outward. Then the periodic orbit becomes unstable being enveloped by a new born stable 2D torus for
. The unstable manifold of the saddle-focus spirals
onto the torus now thereby increasing the size of the a whirlpool (Fig. 6(B)). Next let
touch
: this forms the aforementioned homoclinic loop
of the saddle-focus (of the
second type (Fig. 6(C))). After that the attracting whirlpool will contain a set of
complex structure - the so-called spiral strange attractor. If the second saddle value
, this spiral
attractor is indeed a quasi-chaotic attractor [L. Shilnikov, 1981] as itself or one in a close system may have stable periodic orbits in it. However, if
than the behavior of trajectories in the whirlpool is hyperchaotic. The onset of the spiral attractor can be preceded by the breakdown of the 2D torus, or by a period doubling cascade.
The second scenario involving the period doubling cascade is held, for example, in the Rössler system [Rössler, 1976]
The first one, involving the breakdown of a 2D torus, was well examined in the Anischenko-Astakhov electronic generator [Anischenko and Astakhov, 1983]
where
is the Heaviside function.
The wavetrain generated by the spiral attractor has the distinct shape, Fig. (7). It has the quiescence periods, when the phase point comes close by the saddle-focus, followed by the bursts of oscillatory activity. This signature of the spiral attractor allows for a clear identification of the Shilnikov bifurcation not only in numerical but experimental studies as well, including nonlinear laser optics, various electronic circuits, economics, biology, hydrodynamics flows and many other various fields, just Google this bifurcation.
Wild spiral attractor
Finally, we describe a construction [L.Shilnikov and D.Turaev, 1998] allowing for
the occurrence of a wild pseudo-hyperbolic strange attractor in the 4D+ phase space. The construction
is centered around the saddle-focus with two symmetric or simultaneous homoclinic loops
and
Fig.8. Let the saddle-focus have the leading characteristic exponents
,
, all other ones are on the left from
in the complex plane. We require that:
(A) both saddle values are positive:
and
;
(B) there is an absorbing domain
that contains
Fig.8;
(C) the condition of pseudo-hyperbolicity is held in
.
The essence of the last property is that the Poincarè
mapping shall possess an invariant foliation. Having factorized over the
leaves of the foliation we can create a factor-mapping that expands phase volumes. This means that no stable
orbit of the system itself or of a close one can exist in the domain
. Such an attractor is also wild in sense
of Newhouse [Newhouse, 1974] because the periodic orbits in it have various homoclinic tangencies.
The fractal dimension of this chain-transitive attractor exceeds three.
References
- Shilnikov L. P. [1965] A case of the existence of a denumerable set of periodic motions, Sov. Math. Dokl. 6, 163–166.
- Shilnikov L. P. [1967] The existence of a denumerable set of periodic motions in four-dimensional space in an extended neighborhood of a saddle-focus, Soviet Math. Dokl. 8(1), 54–58.
- Shilnikov L. P. [1970] A contribution to the problem of the structure of an extended neighborhood of a rough equilibrium state of saddle-focus type, Math. USSR Sbornik 10, 91–102.
- Smale S. [1963] Diffeomorphisms with many periodic points, in Diff. Combin. Topology, ed. S. Cairus (Princeton University Press: Princeton), 63–86.
- Shilnikov L.P. [1981] The bifurcation theory and quasi-hyperbiloc attractors. Uspehi Mat. Nauk, 36, 240–241.
- Belyakov L. A. [1974] Bifurcation of systems with homoclinic curve of a saddle-focus with saddle quantity zero, Math. Zametki 36, 838-843.
- Ovsyannikov I. M. and Shilnikov, L. P. [1987] On systems with a saddle-focus homoclinic curve, Math. USSR Sb. 58, 557–574.
- Ovsyannikov I. M. and Shilnikov, L. P. [1992] Systems with a homoclinic curve of multi-dimensional saddle-focus type, and spiral chaos, Math. USSR Sb. 73, 415–443.
- Shilnikov L.P., Shilnikov A., Turaev D. and Chua, L. [1998] Methods of Qualitative Theory in Nonlinear Dynamics. Part I. World Scientific.
- Shilnikov L.P., Shilnikov A., Turaev D. and Chua, L. [2001] Methods of Qualitative Theory in Nonlinear Dynamics. Part II.World Scientific.
- Shilnikov A. L., Nicolis, G. and Nicolis, C. [1995] Bifurcation and predictability analysis of a low-order atmospheric circulation model, Int. J. Bif. Chaos 5(6), 1701–1711.
- Glendenning P. and Sparrow, C. [1984] Local and global behavior near homoclinic orbits, J. Stat. Phys. 35, 645–696.
- Rössler O. [1976] Different types of chaos in two simple differential equations, Zeitschrift fur Naturforsch A 31, 1664–1670.
- Anischenko V.S. and Astakhov V.V. [1983] Bifurcations in an auto-stochastic generator with regular external excitation, Sov. Phys.-Thch. Phys. 28(10), 1326–1329
- Turaev D. V. and Shilnikov, L. P. [1998] An example of a wild strange attractor, Sbornik. Math. 189(2), 291–314.
- Newhouse S. [1974] Diffeomorphisms with infinitely many sinks, Topology, 13, 9–18.
Internal references
- Yuri A. Kuznetsov (2006) Andronov-Hopf bifurcation. Scholarpedia, 1(10):1858.
- John W. Milnor (2006) Attractor. Scholarpedia, 1(11):1815.
- John Guckenheimer (2007) Bifurcation. Scholarpedia, 2(6):1517.
- Eugene M. Izhikevich (2006) Bursting. Scholarpedia, 1(3):1300.
- James Meiss (2007) Dynamical systems. Scholarpedia, 2(2):1629.
- Eugene M. Izhikevich (2007) Equilibrium. Scholarpedia, 2(10):2014.
- Jeff Moehlis, Kresimir Josic, Eric T. Shea-Brown (2006) Periodic orbit. Scholarpedia, 1(7):1358.
- Yuri A. Kuznetsov (2006) Saddle-node bifurcation. Scholarpedia, 1(10):1859.
- Steve Smale and Michael Shub (2007) Smale horseshoe. Scholarpedia, 2(11):3012.
- Philip Holmes and Eric T. Shea-Brown (2006) Stability. Scholarpedia, 1(10):1838.
External Links
See Also
Bifurcations, Chaos, Dynamical Systems, Equilibrium, Homoclinic Bifurcations, Homoclinic Orbits, Iterative Mappings, Smale Horseshoe
| Leonid Pavlovich Shilnikov, Andrey Shilnikov (2007) Shilnikov bifurcation. Scholarpedia, 2(8):1891, (go to the first approved version) Created: 20 August 2006, reviewed: 20 August 2007, accepted: 21 August 2007 |
where the non-empty intersection
containing two homoclinic loops of a saddle-focus in
may generate a wild, pseudo-hyperbolic attractor (right).

