Phase space stable

It is sometimes very usefiil to look at a trajectory such as the synnnetric or antisynnnetric stretch of figure Al.2.5 and figure A1.2.6 not in the physical spatial coordinates (r. . r y), but in the phase space of Hamiltonian mechanics [16, 29], which in addition to the coordinates (r. . r ) also has as additional coordinates the set of conjugate momenta. . pj. ). In phase space, a one-diniensional trajectory such as the aiitisymmetric stretch again appears as a one-diniensional curve, but now the curve closes on itself Such a trajectory is referred to in nonlinear dynamics as a periodic orbit [29]. One says that the aihiamionic nonnal modes of Moser and Weinstein are stable periodic orbits. 

Figure Al.2.7. Trajectory of two coupled stretches, obtained by integrating Hamilton s equations for motion on a PES for the two modes. The system has stable anhamionic synmretric and antisyimnetric stretch modes, like those illustrated in figrne Al.2.6. In this trajectory, semiclassically there is one quantum of energy in each mode, so the trajectory corresponds to a combination state with quantum numbers nj = [1, 1]. The woven pattern shows that the trajectory is regular rather than chaotic, corresponding to motion in phase space on an invariant torus.

Excitable media are some of tire most commonly observed reaction-diffusion systems in nature. An excitable system possesses a stable fixed point which responds to perturbations in a characteristic way small perturbations return quickly to tire fixed point, while larger perturbations tliat exceed a certain tlireshold value make a long excursion in concentration phase space before tire system returns to tire stable state. In many physical systems tliis behaviour is captured by tire dynamics of two concentration fields, a fast activator variable u witli cubic nullcline and a slow inhibitor variable u witli linear nullcline [31]. The FitzHugh-Nagumo equation [34], derived as a simple model for nerve impulse propagation but which can also apply to a chemical reaction scheme [35], is one of tire best known equations witli such activator-inlribitor kinetics ... 

Landau proposed in 1944 that turbulence arises essentially through the emergence of an ever increasing number of quasi-periodic motions resulting from successive bifurcations of the fluid system [landau44]. For small TZ, the fluid motion is, as we have seen, laminar, corresponding to a stable fixed point in phase space. As Ti is... 

A typical trajectory has nonzero values of both P and Q. It is part of neither the NHIM itself nor the NHIM s stable or unstable manifolds. As illustrated in Fig. la, these typical trajectories fall into four distinct classes. Some trajectories cross the barrier from the reactant side q < 0 to the product side q > 0 (reactive) or from the product side to the reactant side (backward reactive). Other trajectories approach the barrier from either the reactant or the product side but do not cross it. They return on the side from which they approached (nonreactive trajectories). The boundaries or separatrices between regions of reactive and nonreactive trajectories in phase space are formed by the stable and unstable manifolds of the NHIM. Thus once these manifolds are known, one can predict the fate of a trajectory that approaches the barrier with certainty, without having to follow the trajectory until it leaves the barrier region again. This predictive value of the invariant manifolds constitutes the power of the geometric approach to TST, and when we are discussing driven systems, we mainly strive to construct time-dependent analogues of these manifolds. 

So far, the discussion of the dynamics and the associated phase-space geometry has been restricted to the linearized Hamiltonian in eq. (5). However, in practice the linearization will rarely be sufficiently accurate to describe the reaction dynamics. We must then generalize the discussion to arbitrary nonlinear Hamiltonians in the vicinity of the saddle point. Fortunately, general theorems of invariant manifold theory [88] ensure that the qualitative features of the dynamics are the same as in the linear approximation for every energy not too high above the energy of the saddle point, there will be a NHIM with its associated stable and unstable manifolds that act as separatrices between reactive and nonreactive trajectories in precisely the manner that was described for the harmonic approximation. 

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. 

This is exactly the autonomous linearized Hamiltonian (7), the dynamics of which was discussed in detail in Section II. One therefore finds the TS dividing surface and the full set of invariant manifolds described earlier one-dimensional stable and unstable manifolds corresponding to the dynamics of the variables A<2i and APt, respectively, and a central manifold of dimension 2N — 2 that itself decomposes into two-dimensional invariant subspaces spanned by APj and AQj. However, all these manifolds are now moving manifolds that are attached to the TS trajectory. Their actual location in phase space at any given time is obtained from their description in terms of relative coordinates by the time-dependent shift of origin, Eq. (42). 

As before, we imagine that we can define the stable regions si and 38 with the help of an order parameter (z). A phase-space point z is in region sZ if the order parameter is within a certain range, < (z) < " ax, and the order parameters... 

Figure 3 depicts the spectmm of Lyapunov exponents in a hard-sphere system. The area below the positive Lyapunov exponent gives the value of the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy per unit time. The positive Lyapunov exponents show that the typical trajectories are dynamically unstable. There are as many phase-space directions in which a perturbation can amplify as there are positive Lyapunov exponents. All these unstable directions are mapped onto corresponding stable directions by the time-reversal symmetry. However, the unstable phase-space directions are physically distinct from the stable ones. Therefore, systems with positive Lyapunov exponents are especially propitious for the spontaneous breaking of the time-reversal symmetry, as shown below. 

The idea of Pollicott-Ruelle resonances relies on this mechanism of spontaneous breaking of the time-reversal symmetry [20, 21]. The Polhcott-Ruelle resonances are generalized eigenvalues sj of LiouviUian operator associated with decaying eigenstates which are singular in the stable phase-space directions but smooth in the unstable ones ... 

When the steady state becomes unstable, the system moves away from it and often undergoes sustained oscillations around the unstable steady state. In the phase space defined by the system s variables, sustained oscillations generally correspond to the evolution toward a limit cycle (Fig. 1). Evolution toward a limit cycle is not the only possible behavior when a steady state becomes unstable in a spatially homogeneous system. The system may evolve toward another stable steady state— when such a state exists. The most common case of multiple steady states, referred to as bistability, is of two stable steady states separated by an unstable one. This phenomenon is thought to play a role in differentiation [30]. When spatial inhomogeneities develop, instabilities may lead to the emergence of spatial or spatiotemporal dissipative stmctures [15]. These can take the form of propagating concentration waves, which are closely related to oscillations. 

The dynamics of the normal mode Hamiltonian is trivial, each stable mode evolves separately as a harmonic oscillator while the imstable mode evolves as a parabolic barrier. To find the time dependence of any function in the system phase space (q,pq) all one needs to do is rewrite the system phase space variables in terms of the normal modes and then average over the relevant thermal distribution. The continuum limit is introduced through use of the spectral density of the normal modes. The relationship between this microscopic view of the evolution... 

Occasionally, long-range disorder and/or different phases may coexist within a crystalline material. Arrangement of molecules in the different regions will necessarily be different in at least some respects. One of the earliest reports of invocation of this phenomenon involves the photodimerization of anthracene in the crystalline state [219]. In the crystal structure of anthracene, the faces of no molecules are separated by <4 A. Yet upon irradiation, a dimer is readily formed. Thomas, Jones, and co-workers used electron microscopy to reveal the coexistence inside normal anthracene crystals of regions of a metastable phase. In the minor phase (space group PI), the C9- -C9. distance is 4.2 A, whereas in the stable crystal it is 4.5 A. The dimerization is proposed to originate in the minor phase of the crystal. 

The way in which the solution rij(f) approaches its stationary value n = rii(oo) for a system with two degrees of freedom can be easily illustrated in a phase space (tia,wb) after eliminating time t - Fig. 2.1. This type of singular point is called a stable node. 

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