Heteroclinic orbits in a spherically invariant system (Q1178840)

Using numerical study, \textit{P. Friedrich} and \textit{H. Haken} dealt with steady state mode interactions for a convection problem in a spherical shell and revealed apparently chaotic trajectories which connected different equilibria of the system [see Phys. Rev. A 34, 2100-2120 (1986)]. These trajectories are suggestive of heteroclinic connections. The purpose of this paper is to prove the existence of these heteroclinic cycles by applying the ideas developed recently for systems with symmetry due to Guckenheimer and Holmes and others. Moreover, the authors of this paper find three other types of heteroclinic cycles which were not noticed in Friedrich and Haken's paper, and finally, they make a conjecture that the geodynamo follows a heteroclinic cycle of the same kind as those presented in this work.