Spatial discretization of mappings (Q2365972)

Consider an iteration \(f\) in \(\mathbb{R}^ p\) which possesses an attractor \({\mathcal A}\). The paper addresses the following question: ``what can be said about the existence, and relationship to \({\mathcal A}\), of an attractor \(\widetilde{\mathcal A}\) for the iteration \(\tilde f\) obtained by restricting \(f\) to finite precision arithmetic?''. The affect of time-discretization on attractors of ordinary differential equations has been studied in some detail in the past and a variety of approaches to the problem exists; this paper employs the techniques of Lyapunov functions. A converse theorem, derived originally for ordinary differential equations, is here generalized to mappings. This converse theorem is then used to prove a result addressing the question described above. A convergence result is proved relating the dynamics of the iterations \(f\) and \(\tilde f\) in the limit that the finite precision tends to infinity. Numerical results concerning the Henon mapping are described.