Hopf bifurcation in the presence of symmetry (Q5903056)

It is refreshing to see group theory once again applied, and to see its application here parallel its recent use in mechanics in the same journal. The paper has three main parts after the introduction in {\S} 1: sections on a group, its action on a certain vector space, and on its isotropy subgroups; the main theorem and its machinery; and a detailed discussion of an example, the orthogonal groups O(2), O(3), O(n). The main result establishes the existence and uniqueness of a branch of small-amplitude periodic (with period near \(2\pi)\) solutions with a group \(\Sigma\) of symmetries to a system of ordinary differential equations whose right-hand sides f have an ''invariance'' group of which \(\Sigma\) is an isotropy subgroup. The bulk of the paper is devoted to a discussion of the orthogonal group example and its interpretation. Since some of the ''invariance'' groups and their isotropy subgroups mix space and time, it is not surprising that known rotating-wave solutions are found, but half- a-dozen seemingly new types of such periodic solutions are also derived. Much has been written on bifurcation, symmetry groups and isotropy groups. The authors acknowledge their dependence on the work of van der Bauwhede and Cicogna, but have made an advance by tying the existence of certain types of periodic solutions to isotropy groups satisfying algebraic criteria.