Invariant manifolds in the Hamiltonian-Hopf bifurcation (Q2301840)

This paper deals with the evolution of the stable and unstable manifolds of an equilibrium point of a parametric Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom. The eigenvalues of the linearized system are purely imaginary for negative values of the parameter $\nu$ and complex with nonzero real part for $\nu>0$. For $\nu>0$ the equilibrium has a two-dimensional stable manifold and a two-dimensional unstable manifold, but for $\nu<0$ there are no longer stable and unstable manifolds attached to the equilibrium. The authors investigate the evolution of these manifolds as the parameter varies. If the sign of a certain term in the normal form is positive then for small positive $\nu$ the stable and unstable manifolds of the system are either identical or must have transverse intersection. Thus, either the system is totally degenerate or the system admits a suspended Smale horseshoe as an invariant set. This happens at the Lagrange equilibrium point of the restricted three-body problem at the Routh critical value. On the other hand if the sign of this term in the normal form is negative then for $\nu=0$ the stable and unstable manifolds persist and then as decreases from zero they detach from the equilibrium to follow a hyperbolic periodic solution. The obtained results enrich the Hopf bifurcation theory of differential equations.