Analytical determination of unstable periodic orbits in area preserving maps (Q1093074)

The Birkhoff normal form, for the neighbourhood of an unstable fixed point of an analytical area preserving map, was proved by Moser to converge. We show here that the region of convergence in fact stretches along a narrow strip surrounding the stable and the unstable manifolds. Consequently the normal form can be used to computer homoclinic points and unstable periodic orbit families that accumulate on them. This is verified for quadratic maps: we find unstable orbits which return to themselves within an accuracy of twenty-one significant figures. A pair of linear equations is derived, which supply approximately all the periodic orbits accumulating on a given homoclinic point. This explicit formula is asymptotically valid in the limit of large periods.