870 research outputs found
Piecewise Linear Models for the Quasiperiodic Transition to Chaos
We formulate and study analytically and computationally two families of
piecewise linear degree one circle maps. These families offer the rare
advantage of being non-trivial but essentially solvable models for the
phenomenon of mode-locking and the quasi-periodic transition to chaos. For
instance, for these families, we obtain complete solutions to several questions
still largely unanswered for families of smooth circle maps. Our main results
describe (1) the sets of maps in these families having some prescribed rotation
interval; (2) the boundaries between zero and positive topological entropy and
between zero length and non-zero length rotation interval; and (3) the
structure and bifurcations of the attractors in one of these families. We
discuss the interpretation of these maps as low-order spline approximations to
the classic ``sine-circle'' map and examine more generally the implications of
our results for the case of smooth circle maps. We also mention a possible
connection to recent experiments on models of a driven Josephson junction.Comment: 75 pages, plain TeX, 47 figures (available on request
Entropy in Dimension One
This paper completely classifies which numbers arise as the topological
entropy associated to postcritically finite self-maps of the unit interval.
Specifically, a positive real number h is the topological entropy of a
postcritically finite self-map of the unit interval if and only if exp(h) is an
algebraic integer that is at least as large as the absolute value of any of the
conjugates of exp(h); that is, if exp(h) is a weak Perron number. The
postcritically finite map may be chosen to be a polynomial all of whose
critical points are in the interval (0,1). This paper also proves that the weak
Perron numbers are precisely the numbers that arise as exp(h), where h is the
topological entropy associated to ergodic train track representatives of outer
automorphisms of a free group.Comment: 38 pages, 15 figures. This paper was completed by the author before
his death, and was uploaded by Dylan Thurston. A version including endnotes
by John Milnor will appear in the proceedings of the Banff conference on
Frontiers in Complex Dynamic
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