Some results on homoclinic and heteroclinic connections in planar systems

Consider a family of planar systems depending on two parameters $(n,b)$ and having at most one limit cycle. Assume that the limit cycle disappears at some homoclinic (or heteroclinic) connection when $\Phi(n,b)=0.$ We present a method that allows to obtain a sequence of explicit algebraic lower and upper bounds for the bifurcation set ${\Phi(n,b)=0}.$ The method is applied to two quadratic families, one of them is the well-known Bogdanov-Takens system. One of the results that we obtain for this system is the bifurcation curve for small values of $n$, given by $b=\frac5 7 n^{1/2}+{72/2401}n- {30024/45294865}n^{3/2}- {2352961656/11108339166925} n^2+O(n^{5/2})$. We obtain the new three terms from purely algebraic calculations, without evaluating Melnikov functions

Complex dynamics in double-diffusive convection

The dynamics of a small Prandtl number binary mixture in a laterally heated cavity is studied numerically. By combining temporal integration, steady state solving and linear stability analysis of the full PDE equations, we have been able to locate and characterize a codimension-three degenerate Takens-Bogdanov point whose unfolding describes the dynamics of the system for a certain range of Rayleigh numbers and separation ratios near S=-1.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

On the number of limit cycles which appear by perturbation of two-saddle cycles of planar vector fields

We prove that every heteroclinic saddle loop (a two-saddle cycle) occurring in an analytic finite-parameter family of plane analytic vector fields, may generate no more than a finite number of limit cycles within the family.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, a new section explaining the so called "Petrov trick" in the context of the paper is added. The paper will appear in "Functional Analysis and Its Applications" (2013

Transport in Transitory Dynamical Systems

We introduce the concept of a "transitory" dynamical system---one whose time-dependence is confined to a compact interval---and show how to quantify transport between two-dimensional Lagrangian coherent structures for the Hamiltonian case. This requires knowing only the "action" of relevant heteroclinic orbits at the intersection of invariant manifolds of "forward" and "backward" hyperbolic orbits. These manifolds can be easily computed by leveraging the autonomous nature of the vector fields on either side of the time-dependent transition. As illustrative examples we consider a two-dimensional fluid flow in a rotating double-gyre configuration and a simple one-and-a-half degree of freedom model of a resonant particle accelerator. We compare our results to those obtained using finite-time Lyapunov exponents and to adiabatic theory, discussing the benefits and limitations of each method.Comment: Updated and corrected version. LaTeX, 29 pages, 21 figure