Two-dimensional global manifolds of vector fields

We describe an efficient algorithm for computing two-dimensional stable and unstable manifolds of three-dimensional vector fields. Larger and larger pieces of a manifold are grown until a sufficiently long piece is obtained. This allows one to study manifolds geometrically and obtain important features of dynamical behavior. For illustration, we compute the stable manifold of the origin spiralling into the Lorenz attractor, and an unstable manifold in zeta(3)-model converging to an attracting limit cycle

Crocheting the Lorenz manifold

You have probably seen a picture of the famous butterfly-shaped Lorenz attractor — on a book cover, a conference poster, a coffee mug or a friend’s T-shirt. The Lorenz attractor is the best known image of a chaotic or strange attractor. We are concerned here with its close cousin, the two-dimensional stable manifold of the origin of the Lorenz system, which we call the Lorenz manifold for short. This surface organizes the dynamics in the three-dimensional phase space of the Lorenz system. It is invariant under the flow (meaning that trajectories cannot cross it) and essentially determines how trajectories visit the two wings of the Lorenz attractor. We have been working for quite a while on the development of algorithms to compute global manifolds in vector fields and have computed the Lorenz manifold up to considerable size. Its geometry is very intriguing and we explored different ways of visualizing it on the computer [6, 9]. However, a real model of this surface was still lacking. During the Christmas break 2002/2003 Hinke was relaxing by crocheting hexagonal lace motifs when Bernd suggested: “Why don’t you crochet something useful? ” The algorithm we developed ‘grows ’ a manifold in steps. We start from a small disc in the stable eigenspace of the origin and add at each step a band of a fixed width. In other words, at any time of the calculation the computed part of the Lorenz manifold is a topological disc whose outer rim is (approximately) a level set of the geodesic distance from the origin. What we realized then and there is that the mesh generated by our algorithm can directly be interpreted as chrochet instructions! After some initial experimentation, the first model of the Lorenz manifold was 1 Osinga & Krauskopf Chrocheting the Lorenz manifold

Global invariant manifolds in the transition to preturbulence in the Lorenz system

AbstractWe consider the homoclinic bifurcation of the Lorenz system, where two primary periodic orbits of saddle type bifurcate from a symmetric pair of homoclinic loops. The two secondary equilibria of the Lorenz system remain the only attractors before and after this bifurcation, but a chaotic saddle is created in a tubular neighbourhood of the two homoclinic loops. This invariant hyperbolic set gives rise to preturbulence, which is characterised by the presence of arbitrarily long transients.In this paper, we show how and where preturbulence arises in the three-dimensional phase space. To this end, we consider how the relevant two-dimensional invariant manifolds — the stable manifolds of the origin and of the primary periodic orbits — organise the phase space of the Lorenz system. More specifically, by means of recently developed and very robust numerical methods, we study how these manifolds intersect a suitable sphere in phase space. In this way, we show how the basins of attraction of the two attracting equilibria change topologically in the homoclinic bifurcation. More specifically, we characterise preturbulence in terms of the accessible boundary between the two basins, which accumulate on each other in a Cantor structure