Chaotic motion generated by delayed negative feedback. I: A transversality criterion (Q1891578)

This paper studies the basic differential equation for a system governed by delayed negative feedback as the following: (g) \(x'(t)= g(x(t- 1))\) with a continuous function \(g: \mathbb{R}\to \mathbb{R}\) which satisfies \(g(0)= 0\) and \(xg(x)< 0\), \(\forall x\neq 0\). The variational equations, along periodic solutions \(y\) of equation (g) in case \(g'(\xi)< 0\) for all \(\xi\in y(\mathbb{R})\), are generalized as follows: (b) \(x'(t)= b(t) x(t- 1)\) with a periodic coefficient \(b: \mathbb{R}\to (- \infty, 0)\). The authors investigate the largest Floquet multipliers of equation (b) and derive a characterization of vectors transversal to stable manifolds of Poincaré maps associated with slowly oscillating periodic solutions of (g). It is announced that the criterion is used in Part Two of the paper in order to find \(g\) and \(y\) so that a Poincaré map has a transversal homoclinic trajectory, and a hyperbolic set on which the dynamics is chaotic.