Higher-order Melnikov method and chaos for two-degree-of-freedom Hamiltonian systems with saddle-centers (Q628776)

The author considers two-degree-of-freedom Hamiltonian systems of the form \[ \dot{x}=JD_xH(x,y), \dot{y}=JD_yH(x,y), (x,y)\in \mathbb{R}^2\times \mathbb{R}^2, \] where \(H:\mathbb{R}^2\times \mathbb{R}^2 \rightarrow \mathbb{R}\) is \(C^{r+1}(r\geq 4)\) differentiable and \(J\) is the \(2\times 2\) symplectic matrix. A special attention is paid to the Hénon-Heiles Hamiltonian \(H(x,y)=\frac{1}{2}(x_1^2+x_2^2+y_1^2+y_2^2)+cx_1y_1^2+\frac{1}{3}dx_1^3\), with \(c/d=3/4\). The author extends the idea of his paper [Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 154, No.4, 275--296 (2000; Zbl 0985.37058)] to second-order approximations and develops a technique for detecting the existence of transverse homoclinic orbits. Other author's papers directly connected to this topic are [Phys. Lett., A 285, No.1-2, 55--62 (2001; Zbl 0969.70509); Phys. Lett., A 301, No.1-2, 45--52 (2002; Zbl 0997.37035); Nonlinearity 16, No. 6, 2003--2012 (2003; Zbl 1070.37038); and Nonlinearity 18, No. 3, 1331--1350 (2005; Zbl 1125.37043)].