Universal scalings in homoclinic doubling cascades (Q5947288)

It is well known that cascades of period doubling bifurcations are found in one parameter families of differential equations in \(\mathbb R^3\). When varying a second parameter, periodic orbits in the period doubling cascade can disappear in homoclinic bifurcations. One of the possible scenarios leads to cascades of homoclinic doubling bifurcations. Some aspects of this scenario can be understood from the study of interval maps close to the map \[ x\mapsto p+r(1-x^\beta)^2,\quad x\geq 0,\quad\beta\in (\tfrac{1}{2};1), \tag{1} \] where \(p\) and \(r\) are parameters. Sect.~2 presents a brief review of the theory of homoclinic doubling bifurcations in families of differential equations in \(\mathbb R^3\). In particular it is shown how interval maps (1) occur in the study of a codimension three homoclinic bifurcation. In Sect.~3 a renormalization operator for interval maps close to (1) (\(\beta\) is close to \(\frac{1}{2}\)) is studied. For such maps the authors prove the existence of a fixed point of the renormalization operator whose linearization at the fixed point has two unstable eigenvalues (renormalization theorem). This is in contrast to the renormalization theory of period doubling cascades where one unstable eigenvalue appears. In Sect.~4, as consequences of the renormalization theorem universal scalings in the bifurcation diagram of families near (1) for \(\beta\) close to \(\frac{1}{2}\) are detected. The obtained results are illustrated by numerically computed bifurcation diagrams.