Exotic reactions general remarks

The most regular behaviour of a solution of a differential equation is if it tends to a constant in the state-space. It is a bit more complicated if, after an initial transient period, the solution tends to a periodic orbit. In more than two dimensions it may also happen that the trajectories remain in a bounded set, but they neither tend to an equilibrium point, nor to an oscillatory solution. This is a loose definition of chaos. 

These three essentially different possibilities can be seen in Fig. 4.2. 

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