Kneadings, Symbolic Dynamics and Painting Lorenz Chaos. A Tutorial

A new computational technique based on the symbolic description utilizing kneading invariants is proposed and verified for explorations of dynamical and parametric chaos in a few exemplary systems with the Lorenz attractor. The technique allows for uncovering the stunning complexity and universality of bi-parametric structures and detect their organizing centers - codimension-two T-points and separating saddles in the kneading-based scans of the iconic Lorenz equation from hydrodynamics, a normal model from mathematics, and a laser model from nonlinear optics.Comment: Journal of Bifurcations and Chaos, 201

Symbolic Toolkit for Chaos Explorations

New computational technique based on the symbolic description utilizing kneading invariants is used for explorations of parametric chaos in a two exemplary systems with the Lorenz attractor: a normal model from mathematics, and a laser model from nonlinear optics. The technique allows for uncovering the stunning complexity and universality of the patterns discovered in the bi-parametric scans of the given models and detects their organizing centers -- codimension-two T-points and separating saddles.Comment: International Conference on Theory and Application in Nonlinear Dynamics (ICAND 2012

A propensity criterion for networking in an array of coupled chaotic systems

We examine the mutual synchronization of a one dimensional chain of chaotic identical objects in the presence of a stimulus applied to the first site. We first describe the characteristics of the local elements, and then the process whereby a global nontrivial behaviour emerges. A propensity criterion for networking is introduced, consisting in the coexistence within the attractor of a localized chaotic region, which displays high sensitivity to external stimuli,and an island of stability, which provides a reliable coupling signal to the neighbors in the chain. Based on this criterion we compare homoclinic chaos, recently explored in lasers and conjectured to be typical of a single neuron, with Lorenz chaos.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Homoclinic puzzles and chaos in a nonlinear laser model

We present a case study elaborating on the multiplicity and self-similarity of homoclinic and heteroclinic bifurcation structures in the 2D and 3D parameter spaces of a nonlinear laser model with a Lorenz-like chaotic attractor. In a symbiotic approach combining the traditional parameter continuation methods using MatCont and a newly developed technique called the Deterministic Chaos Prospector (DCP) utilizing symbolic dynamics on fast parallel computing hardware with graphics processing units (GPUs), we exhibit how specific codimension-two bifurcations originate and pattern regions of chaotic and simple dynamics in this classical model. We show detailed computational reconstructions of key bifurcation structures such as Bykov T-point spirals and inclination flips in 2D parameter space, as well as the spatial organization and 3D embedding of bifurcation surfaces, parametric saddles, and isolated closed curves (isolas).Comment: 28 pages, 23 figure

Smooth and Non-Smooth Dependence of Lyapunov Vectors upon the Angle Variable on a Torus in the Context of Torus-Doubling Transitions in the Quasiperiodically Forced Henon Map

A transition from a smooth torus to a chaotic attractor in quasiperiodically forced dissipative systems may occur after a finite number of torus-doubling bifurcations. In this paper we investigate the underlying bifurcational mechanism which seems to be responsible for the termination of the torus-doubling cascades on the routes to chaos in invertible maps under external quasiperiodic forcing. We consider the structure of a vicinity of a smooth attracting invariant curve (torus) in the quasiperiodically forced Henon map and characterize it in terms of Lyapunov vectors, which determine directions of contraction for an element of phase space in a vicinity of the torus. When the dependence of the Lyapunov vectors upon the angle variable on the torus is smooth, regular torus-doubling bifurcation takes place. On the other hand, the onset of non-smooth dependence leads to a new phenomenon terminating the torus-doubling bifurcation line in the parameter space with the torus transforming directly into a strange nonchaotic attractor. We argue that the new phenomenon plays a key role in mechanisms of transition to chaos in quasiperiodically forced invertible dynamical systems.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figure

Plykin-like attractor in non-autonomous coupled oscillators

A system of two coupled non-autonomous oscillators is considered. Dynamics of complex amplitudes is governed by differential equations with periodic piecewise continuous dependence of the coefficients on time. The Poincar\'{e} map is derived explicitly. With exclusion of the overall phase, on which the evolution of other variables does not depend, the Poincar\'{e} map is reduced to 3D mapping. It possesses an attractor of Plykin type located on an invariant sphere. Computer verification of the cone criterion confirms the hyperbolic nature of the attractor in the 3D map. Some results of numerical studies of the dynamics for the coupled oscillators are presented, including the attractor portraits, Lyapunov exponents, and the power spectral density.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure