Dynamics of conservative Bykov cycles: tangencies, generalized Cocoon bifurcations and elliptic solutions (Q281659)

A Bykov cycle on a three-dimensional manifold is a heteroclinic cycle between two hyperbolic saddle-foci of different Morse index, where one of the connections is transverse and the other is structurally unstable. In the previous literature, the case when in the neighborhood of the two saddle-loci, trajectories wind in the same direction was studied. In this paper, the situation when trajectories wind in opposite directions near each node is considered. Furthermore, the authors present a mechanism for the coexistence of hyperbolic and non-hyperbolic dynamics arising in a neighbourhood of a conservative Bykov cycle where trajectories turn in opposite directions near the two saddle-foci. It is shown that within a codimension 2 subset of the class of divergence-free vector fields, tangencies of the invariant manifolds of two hyperbolic saddle-foci densely occur. It is proven that the global dynamics is persistently dominated by heteroclinic tangencies and by the existence of infinitely many elliptic points coexisting with hyperbolic dynamics arising from \(C^1\)-transversality. These tangencies are related to the Cocoon bifurcations.