Transcendentally small transversality in the rapidly forced pendulum (Q2368048)

The authors apply Melnikov's method to the rapidly forced pendulum equation (1) \(\ddot x+\sin x=\delta\sin(\varepsilon^{-1} t)\). Thus, they have to investigate the stable and unstable manifolds of the hyperbolic periodic orbit of (1) in the extended phase space which arises from the saddle point \((\pi,0)\) in the unperturbed case \(\delta=0\). This is done on the basis of previous papers by Holmes, Marsden, and Scheuerle. It is shown that, for \(\delta=\delta_ 0\varepsilon^ 5\), if \(\delta_ 0>0\) and \(\varepsilon>0\) are sufficiently small, the stable and unstable manifolds intersect transversely, while the angle of intersection is exponentially small, namely of order \(\exp(- \pi/2\varepsilon)\). Essential features of the lengthy proof are: 1. To introduce two independent complex times -- a slow one and a fast one --, thus turning (1) into a pde. 2. Looking for a bounded solution of this pde which parametrizes the complex extension of the stable manifold. 3. Exploiting the symmetry of the problem to obtain analogous results for the unstable manifold. 4. Making extensive use of complex variables methods and Fourier analysis.