Bifurcations of subharmonics (Q1088045)

We consider a piecewise linear second order ordinary differential equation which is topologically equivalent to the sine-Gordon equation. The system is subjected to a time harmonic disturbance and the behavior of the periodic solutions is examined. It is shown that subharmonic motions with period n times that of the disturbance appear via saddle- node bifurcations for all \(n=1,2,3,..\). These motions then undergo period-doubling or pitchfork bifurcations as parameters are varied beyond the saddle-node bifurcation values. The limit \(n\to \infty\) is considered and is compared with a Melnikov calculation for the system. Due to the piecewise linear nature of the system no approximations are necessary and thus the results are valid for ''non-small'' parameter values. Furthermore, this provides an answer to the uniformity question in the study of stability of subharmonics.