Bifurcation diagrams and heteroclinic networks of octagonal H-planforms (Q715480)

The mechanism of pattern formation in the Euclidian space \(\mathbb{R}^p\) is well known and described in detail in many works on equivariant bifurcation theory. In a previous work of the second author, \textit{G. Fave} and \textit{O. Fangeras} [J. Nonlinear Sci. 21, No. 4, 465--498 (2011; Zbl 1229.35014)], a similar problem posed on the hyperbolic plane identified with the Poincaré disc \(\mathbb{D}=\{z\in \mathbb{C}:|z|<1\}\), originated from modeling the critical perception of visual features, was studied also by the same methods of equivariant bifurcation theory. The authors look at possible bifurcation solutions of the relevant nonlinear equation from the fully symmetric case zero solution when the stiffness parameter \(\mu\) is varied. A spectral analysis in \(\mathbb{D}\) of the linearization, the Laplace-Beltrami operator, leads to elementary eigenfunctions \(e_{\rho,b}(z)\) depending on the ``wave number'' \(\rho \in \mathbb{R}\) and a point \(b\) on the boundary of the unit disc with corresponding eigenvalues \(\frac{1}{4}+\rho^2\). Since the spectrum turns out to be continuous, for the application of equivariant bifurcation theory one has to look at a class of solutions periodic in \(\mathbb{D}\), i.e., solutions invariant under the action of a discrete subgroup \(\Gamma\) of \(U(1,1)\) whose fundamental domain is a polygon. In contrast to the Euclidean space, here regular polygons are possible with an arbitrary number of sides. Thus the problem reduces to looking for bifurcation solutions of the nonlinear equation defined on the quotient space \(\mathbb{D}/\Gamma\), which is a compact Riemann surface. Consequently, the spectrum of the linearized operator is discrete and consists of finite multiplicity eigenvalues. The case is studied when the group \(\Gamma\) corresponds to a tiling of \(\mathbb{D}\) with regular octagons. The group \(\mathcal{G}\) of automorphisms of \(\mathbb{D}/\Gamma\) consists of 96 elements. According to the center manifold reduction, the nonlinear equation is projected onto the critical eigenspace of the linearized operator. In the considered case, the critical eigenvalue is zero, corresponding to a study state bifurcation, where the relevant eigenspace is an absolutely irreducible representation space of the group \(\mathcal{G}\). In [loc. cit.], 13 irreducible representations of \(\mathcal{G}\) \(\chi_1,\dots,\chi_{13}\) are listed and described. The representations \(\chi_1,\dots ,\chi_{4}\) have dimension one, \(\chi_5\), \(\chi_{6}\) have dimension two, \(\chi_7,\dots ,\chi_{10}\) have dimension three. For the first 10 representations, the bifurcation diagrams are computed and all branches of equilibria with maximal isotopy groups are found. The reviewed article is devoted to the remaining three irreducible representations of dimension four. In the conclusive Section 5, the existence of a heteroclinic network for the originating problem in the \(\chi_{11}\) case is shown and its asymptotic stability is studied. Results of numerical simulation are also given.