Bifurcations to \(N\)-homoclinic orbits and \(N\)-periodic orbits in vector fields (Q2368050)

The authors study two kinds of codimension two homoclinic orbits at equilibria of vector fields -- the homoclinic orbit with resonant eigenvalues, and the inclination flip homoclinic orbit. The authors assume the spectrum of the linearization at the equilibrium is contained in \((-\infty,-\alpha)\cup \{-\lambda_ s\}\cup \{\lambda_ u\}\cup (\beta,\infty)\), \(-\alpha<-\lambda_ s<0<\lambda_ u<\beta\), where \(- \lambda_ s\) and \(\lambda_ u\) are simple real eigenvalues. In the resonant eigenvalue case, \(\lambda_ s=\lambda_ u\). In the inclination flip case, when the unstable manifold \(W^ u\) of the equilibrium returns to the equilibrium along the homoclinic orbit \(\gamma(t)\), \(T_{\gamma(t)}W^ u\) does not approach span \(\{e_ s\}\oplus E^{uu}\) as expected. Here \(e_ s\) is the eigenvector associated with \(-\lambda_ s\), \(\gamma(t)\) approaches the equilibrium as \(t\to\infty\) along \(e_ s\), and \(E^{uu}\) is the generalized eigenspace associated with the part of the spectrum in \((\beta,\infty)\). For the resonant eigenvalue case, \textit{S.-N. Chow}, \textit{B. Deng} and \textit{B. Fiedler} [J. Dyn. Differ. Equations 2, No. 2, 177-244 (1990; Zbl 0703.34050)] studied the bifurcation of \(N\)-periodic and \(N\)-homoclinic orbits for \(N=1,2\). (An \(N\)-periodic orbit circles \(N\) times around the original homoclinic orbit before connecting up; the definition of an \(N\)- homoclinic orbit is similar.) The authors extend this work by showing that \(N\)-periodic and \(N\)-homoclinic orbits do not bifurcate for \(N\geq 3\). The method of proof is similar to that of Chow, Deng, and Fiedler. The authors obtain equations for these orbits in the Shilnikov variables and reduce them using a Lyapunov-Schmidt procedure. For the inclination flip case, the authors study the bifurcation of 1- and 2-periodic and 2-homoclinic orbits, using the same method. They need the following assumptions: (1) \(|\lambda_ s- \lambda_ u|< \min(\alpha-\lambda_ s, \beta-\lambda_ u)\), (2a) \({1\over 2}< {{\lambda_ s} \over {\lambda_ u}}<1\) or (2b) \(1<{{\lambda_ s} \over {\lambda_ u}}<2\). In case (2a) only 1-periodic orbits bifurcate; in case (2b) both 1- and 2-periodic and 2-homoclinic orbits bifurcate. The authors also show that in case (2a) \(N\)-homoclinic orbits do not bifurcate for larger \(N\).