Stability and geometry of third-order resonances in four-dimensional symplectic mappings (Q1383215)

This paper focuses on four-dimensional symplectic mappings in the neighborhood of an elliptic fixed point whose eigenvalues are close to satisfying a third order resonance. Four-dimensional symplectic mappings arise naturally from Hamiltonian flows in six-dimensional phase space when Poincaré sections are taken around a periodic orbit. The case of four-dimensional symplectic mappings is of interest because it shows the use of normal form tools in the context of a rich variety of behaviors and topologies. The authors carry out a formal analysis of the first significant orders of the normal form. They then use the four-dimensional Hénon map to do a numerical check out of their analysis of the nontrivial phase space structures that arise from the perturbative approach. When the resonance is unstable, the authors give an analytical estimate of the stability boundary.