Horseshoes in two-degree-of-freedom Hamiltonian systems with saddle-centers (Q1587922)

The author studies two-degree-of-freedom Hamiltonian systems of the form \[ \dot x=JD_x H(x,y),\quad \dot y=JD_y H(x,y),\quad (x,y)\in \mathbb{R}^2\times \mathbb{R}^2 \tag{1} \] where \(H:\mathbb{R}^2\times \mathbb{R}^2\rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is \(C^{r+1}(r\geq 3) \) and \(J=\left( \begin{smallmatrix} 0&1\\ -1&0\end{smallmatrix}\right).\) It is assumed that in (1) there is a saddle-center, with a homoclinic orbit. At the usage of Mel'nikov-type global perturbation technique the author gives a condition under which orbits transversely homoclinic to periodic exist and horseshoes are created on surfaces of energy level near the saddle-centers. This theory is applied to systems with potentials. Concrete examples are given. The obtained results allow to detect the presence of horseshoes in a class of systems to which previous results did not apply.