3. The Double-Zero Bifurcation
In this section, we deduce jerk approximate normal forms for the double-zero bifurcation of a jerk system. Also, we give parametric portraits of these.
When the parameters and vary simultaneously to track the bifurcation curve , another real eigenvalue can approach the imaginary axis, which leads to a double-zero bifurcation generally.
Consider the following mechanism of the double-zero bifurcation: Let
be the fold bifurcation curve given by Lemma 1. The parameter
varies such that
is an equilibrium point that fulfills the conditions
–
. Taking into account the characteristic polynomial of the equilibrium
of system (
1), namely
where
we assume there is a unique
and consequently a unique pair
such that
Therefore, we get the equilibrium with a double-zero eigenvalue when passes through the critical value . Obviously, we can consider instead of
In the following, we consider and ; we denote and . We are concerned with local properties: that is, moves in the parametric plane with being sufficiently small.
First, we use Taylor’s expansion of the function
j with respect to
at
:
where
. We have
,
,
We perform the parameter-dependent shift of the first variable, i.e.,
and system (
1) becomes
where
Now we try to find such that one of the linear terms vanishes via IFT. We have two cases.
Case I. The annihilation of the term proportional to y.
Let
We have
and
Imposing the condition
, we can apply IFT; thus, there is the function
with
such that
in the neighborhood of
. Moreover
We replace the above
in (
3), and then we expand in Taylor series with respect to
at
, knowing that
,
,
,
,
. We have
Consider the change in parameters near the origin
given by
The above the map is regular if
which is equivalent in our hypothesis to the regularity of the map
at the origin.
The above change in parameters transforms system (
2) in
where
We denote
Since
, this results in
near
Using the transformation
and
system (
4) can be written as
where
,
,
,
.
In conclusion, we have obtained the following theorem.
Theorem 1. Let the jerk system where j is smooth.
Assume that the following conditions are fulfilled:
- DZ1.
, , , ;
- DZ2.
;
- DZ3.
, ;
- DZ4.
The map is regular at .
Then the considered system has at the equilibrium with a double-zero eigenvalue and there are smooth invertible variable transformations and smooth invertible parameter changes, which together reduce the system towhere , , and φ is a smooth function with Remark 1. We notice the similarity between the reduced jerk system (6) and Bogdanov’s normal form of the double-zero bifurcation on given by (see, e.g., [2]) Because
and the local stability and some local bifurcations are related to the coefficients of the characteristic polynomial, we conclude that for a jerk system, an approximate normal form for the double-zero bifurcation is given by the system
where
are fixed.
It is easy to see that if
, system (
8) has two equilibria
,
, which collide when
and then disappear for
. Moreover, the characteristic polynomial at
is given by
The fold curve is , and iff
Following [
21], if the characteristic polynomial has the form
then the Hopf bifurcation occurs if
; hence, it cannot occur at
For , let
Assume
. At
, we obtain the Hopf bifurcation curve
which depends on
c and
In fact,
is half of the parabola
for
the negative semi-axis
for
, and the positive semi-axis
for
Moreover, for
, we get that
is an unstable equilibrium point with a two-dimensional stable manifold; thus, it does not bifurcate.
Now, let
. Consider the parametric portrait given in
Figure 1, where
is the above Hopf curve and
are the branches of the fold curve
separated by the double-zero point
.
In region
1, there are no equilibrium points. On the curve
, an equilibrium is born and splits into the asymptotically stable node (or focus-node)
and the unstable saddle (or saddle-focus)
in the region
2. Hence system (
8) displays a saddle–node bifurcation when
crosses the fold curve
. In region
3,
is an unstable equilibrium point with a one-dimensional stable manifold; hence, it loses stability when the curve
is crossed. Moreover, a Hopf bifurcation occurs, and a stable limit cycle is born (we assume that the first Lyapunov coefficient does not vanish). The unstable equilibria
and
collide when
and then disappear when returning to region
1; thus, a degenerate fold bifurcation occurs. We conclude that there are no other local bifurcations in the dynamics of system (
8) in the case
We notice that the above scenario is similar to that which takes place for Bogdanov’s normal form (
7) (see [
2]). As is pointed out in [
2], “…finally return to region
1, no limit cycles must remain. Therefore, there must be global bifurcations ’destroying’ the cycle somewhere between
and
”. Consequently, a global bifurcation has to occur for system (
8) in this case.
In
Figure 2, we present such a homoclinic bifurcation obtained by numerical simulations. We fix
, and we vary the parameter
. Considering the initial point
, we obtain an asymptotically stable orbit for
, which turns into a stable limit cycle at the above-mentioned Hopf curve. The limit cycle deforms (
,
) and finally becomes a homoclinic orbit (plotted here for
using the initial point
: the red part of the homoclinic orbit corresponds to
and the blue one to
).
In the cases for which we obtain similar parametric portraits. The difference is that the regions 2 and 3 and the curves and change their roles.
Now, assume that
. We obtain that
is an unstable equilibrium point with an one-dimensional stable manifold; thus, it does not bifurcate. Moreover, in this case system (
8) does not experience a Hopf bifurcation.
Let
, and the parametric portrait given in
Figure 3, where
is half of the parabola
with
and
, is as above.
Again, there are no equilibrium points in region
1. Crossing the curve
, an equilibrium is born and separates into the unstable node (or focus-node)
and the unstable saddle (or saddle-focus)
in region
4. Since both equilibria are unstable, system (
8) does not display a saddle–node bifurcation in the classic sense: that is, a stable node and a saddle coalesce. Anyway, a fold bifurcation occurs in the considered dynamics. In region
5,
is an unstable equilibrium point with a two-dimensional stable manifold. Therefore, crossing the curve
, the dimension of the stable manifold of
changes. The saddles
and
collide when
crosses
and then disappear when returning to region
1; thus, a degenerate fold bifurcation occurs. We conclude that there are no other local bifurcations in the dynamics of system (
8) in this case. Similar bifurcation diagrams are obtained when
.
Case II. The annihilation of the term proportional to .
Let
We have
and
By IFT, there is a function
with
such that
in the neighborhood of
Moreover,
We proceed as in the previous case. Now we consider the change in parameters
near the origin given by
The above map is regular in
if the map
is also regular at
.
Consequently, system (
2) is transformed into the system given in the next theorem.
Theorem 2. Let the jerk system where j is smooth.
Assume that the following conditions are fulfilled:
- DZ1.
, , , ;
- DZ2.
;
- DZ3.
;
- DZ4.
The map is regular at .
Then the considered system has at the equilibrium with a double-zero eigenvalue, and there are smooth invertible variable transformations and smooth invertible parameter changes, which together reduce the system towhere , , and φ is a smooth function with Remark 2. In this case, the reduced jerk system (9) is similar to the normal form of the double-zero bifurcation on given by Guckenheimer and Holmes [1]: Now, we consider for a jerk system another approximate normal form for the double-zero bifurcation given by the system
where
are fixed.
If
, system (
10) has two equilibria
, which coalesce when
and then disappear for
. The characteristic polynomial at
is given by
The fold curve is , and iff
The Hopf bifurcation cannot occur at For , we denote ,
Let . It follows that is an unstable equilibrium point with a two-dimensional stable manifold; thus, it does not bifurcate.
At
, we obtain the Hopf bifurcation curve
In fact, is half of the parabola for and the negative semi-axis for .
Now, let
. We obtain the parametric portrait given in
Figure 4, where
is the above Hopf curve and
are the branches of the fold curve
separated by the double-zero point
. Also, the behavior of system (
10) in each region is the same as of system (
8) in the case
(see Case 1). For
we obtain similar parametric portraits.
In the case
, we obtain that
is an unstable equilibrium point with a one-dimensional stable manifold; thus, it does not bifurcate. In addition, a Hopf bifurcation does not occur in the dynamics of system (
10).
For
, we get the parametric portrait given in
Figure 5, where
is the parabola
with
and
are as above.
In this case, there are no equilibrium points in region
1, and an equilibrium appears when
. This point splits into the unstable node (or focus-node)
and the unstable saddle (or saddle-focus)
in the region
6. Crossing the curve
,
changes its number of negative eigenvalues, and in region
7, it has a two-dimensional stable manifold. The saddles
and
collide when
crosses
and then disappear when returning to region
1; thus, a degenerate fold bifurcation occurs. We conclude that there are no other local bifurcations in the dynamics of system (
10) in this case. Similar bifurcation diagrams are obtained when
.
Remark 3. It is known that the normal forms for the double-zero bifurcation given by Bogdanov [13], Takens [14], and Guckenheimer and Holmes [1] are equivalent. In our case, the approximate normal forms (8) and (10) have similar parametric portraits. Moreover, if the local bifurcations are the same as those obtained for the Bogdanov normal form (see [2]) and Guckenheimer and Holmes (see [1]), respectively. It remains an open problem to establish if a jerk system and the corresponding approximate normal form are locally topologically equivalent: that is, the construction of a homeomorphism that maps orbits of the first system onto orbits of the second system.