Nonlinear Systems: Bifurcation Theory

Abstract

In Chapters 2 and 3 we studied the local and global theory of nonlinear systems of differential equations

$$ \dot{x} = f(x) $$

(1)

with f ∈ C¹(E) where E is an open subset of Rⁿ. In this chapter we address the question of how the qualitative behavior of (1) changes as we change the function or vector field f in (1). If the qualitative behavior remains the same for all nearby vector fields, then the system (1) or the vector field f is said to be structurally stable. The idea of structural stability originated with Andronov and Pontryagin in 1937. Their work on planar systems culminated in Peixoto’s Theorem which completely characterizes the structurally stable vector fields on a compact, two-dimensional manifold and establishes that they are generic. Unfortunately, no such complete results are available in higher dimensions (n ≥ 3). If a vector field f ∈ C^l(E) is not structurally stable, it belongs to the bifurcation set in C^l(E). The qualitative structure of the solution set or of the global phase portrait of (1) changes as the vector field f passes through a point in the bifurcation set. In this chapter, we study various types of bifurcations that occur in C¹-systems

$$ \dot{x}=f\left( {x,\mu} \right) $$

(2)

depending on a parameter μ ∈ R (or on several parameters μ ∈ R^m).