Center unstable manifold

The geometric version of TST laid out in Section II is centered around the NHIM that defines the dividing surface and its stable and unstable manifolds that act as separatrices. The NHIMs at different energies are in turn organized by the saddle point. It forms a fixed point of the dynamics—that is it is itself an invariant object—and it provides the Archimedean point in which the geometric phase-space structure is anchored. 

Thus, we have found that the mechanisms of escape from a nonhyperbolic attractor and a quasihyperbolic (Lorenz) attractor are quite different, and that the prehistory of the escape trajectories reflects the different structure of their chaotic attractors. The escape process for the nonhyperbolic attractor is realized via several steps, which include transitions between low-period saddle-cycles coexisting in the system phase space. The escape from the Lorenz attractor consist of two qualitatively different stages the first is defined by the stable and unstable manifolds of the saddle center point, and lies on the attractor the second is the escape itself, crossing the saddle boundary cycle surrounding the stable point attractor. Finally, we should like to point out that our main results were obtained via an experimental definition of optimal paths, confirming our experimental approach as a powerful instrument for investigating noise-induced escape from complex attractors. 

Moreover, the intersection of the center manifold with an energy shell yields an NHIM. The NHIM, which is a (2n — 3)-dimensional hypersphere, is the higher-dimensional analog of Pechukas PODS. Because this manifold is normally hyperbolic, it will possess stable and unstable manifolds. These manifolds are the 2n — 2)-dimensional analogs of the separatrices. The NHIM is the edge of the TS, which is a (2n — 2)-dimensional hemisphere. 

It is well known (see, e.g.. Ref. 13) that the normal form transformations do not converge in the sense that normalization to all orders generally does not yield a meaningful result. However, this is of no consequence for our purposes. We view the technique more as the input to a numerical method for realizing the NHIM, its stable and unstable manifolds, and the TS. In this sense the limitations of machine precision make normalization beyond a certain finite order meaningless. This is a local result valid in the neighborhood of the equilibrium point of center center saddle type. However, once the phase-space structure is established locally, it can be numerically continued outside of the local region. 

Transport. We need now to construct the NHIM, its stable/unstable manifolds, and the center manifold. Let P be the main relative equilibrium point. The first task is to find the short periodic orbits lying above P in energy. These p.o. are unstable. We did so by exploring phase space at energies 4, 10, and 14 cm above E (1 atomic unit = 2.194746 x 10 cm ). It is not possible to go much higher in E, since the center manifold disappears shortly above E + 14cm , because of the structure of the potential energy surface. 

Spectral analysis of the linearized semiflow along a periodic solution is called Floquet theory. The eigenvalues p of the linearized period map are called Floquet multipliers. A Floquet exponent is a complex / such that exp(/3r) is a Floquet multiplier of the system, where t denotes the minimal period. A periodic solution is hyperbolic if, and only if, it possesses only the trivial Floquet multiplier p = 1 on the unit circle, and this multiplier has algebraic multiplicity one. Otherwise it is called non-hyperbolic. In ODEs hyperbolic periodic solutions possess stable and unstable manifolds, similarly to the case of hyperbolic equilibria. Non-hyperbolic periodic solutions possess center manifolds. 

Kelley, A. (1967). The stable, center-stable, center, center-unstable and unstable manifolds. J. Diff. Eqs., 3, 546-70. 

The general setting of the problem of global bifurcations on the disappearance of a saddle-node periodic orbit is as follows. Assume that there exists a saddle-node periodic orbit and that all trajectories which tend to this periodic orbit as i — 00 also tend to it as -f-oo along some center manifold. In other words, assume that the unstable manifold of the saddle-node returns to the saddle-node orbit from the side of the node region. In this case, either ... 

If the first non-zero Lyapunov value is positive and if all non-critical characteristic exponents (71,...,7n) lie to the left of the imaginary axis in the complex plane, then the equilibrium state is a complex saddle-focus, as shown in Fig. 9.3.2(b). Its stable manifold is and the unstable manifold coincides with the center manifold W, The trajectories lying neither in nor pass nearby the equilibrium state. 

The above theorem is related to the map on the center manifold. Reconstructing the behavior of trajectories of the original map (11.6.2) is relatively simple. Here, if L < 0, then the fixed point is stable when /i < 0. When /i > 0 it becomes a saddle-focus with an m-dimensional stable manifold (defined by T = 0) and with a two-dimensional unstable manifold which consists of a part of the plane y = 0 bounded by the stable invariant curve C,... 

On this interval, the homoclinic-8 bifurcates in the same way as in the Khorozov-Takens normal form. Both loops, which form the homoclinic-8 are orientable. The dimension of the center homoclinic manifold is equal to 2. The third dimension does not yet play a significant role. Therefore, it follows from the results in Sec. 13.7 that on the right of HS, there are two unstable cycles cycles 1 and 2 in Fig. 13.7.9). To the left of HS, a symmetric saddle periodic orbit (cycle 12) bifurcates from the homoclinic-8 (see also Fig. C.7.5). 

It must be underlined that the central manifold theorem, extending the linear center manifold into the nonlinear regime, is way less powerful than its stable/ unstable counterpart. There is no limit t —> oo and even no unicity of nonlinear center manifolds. Consequently, it is not well known how this whole beautiful stmcture bifurcates and disappears as E > E. There has been virtually no study of the bifurcation stmcture (see, however, Ref. 55), and the transition from threshold behavior to far-above-threshold behavior is an open question, as far as I am aware. 

In the general case where there are both stable and unstable characteristic exponents, or stable and unstable multipliers in the spectrum, the local bifurcation problem does not cause any special difficulties, thanks to the reduction onto the center manifold. Consequently, the pictures from Chaps. 9-H will need only some slight modifications where unstable directions replace stable ones, or be added to existing directions in the space. However, the reader must... 

If the equilibrium state is unstable in the center manifold, then the equilibrium state of the original system is unstable. ... 

Theorem 10.1. If the fixed point O is Lyapunov stable in the center manifold then it is also stable for the original map (10.1.1). If the fixed point is asymptotically stable in the center manifold, then the fixed point of the original system is also asymptotically stable. If the fixed point is unstable in the center manifold, then it is unstable for the original map. 

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