Analytic and algebraic conditions for bifurcations of homoclinic orbits I: Saddle equilibria (Q713331)

The authors apply a version of Melnikov's method due to Gruendler to study the bifurcations of homoclinic orbits in higher-dimensional dynamical systems with hyperbolic saddle equilibrium at the origin. From the assumptions on the dimensions of the stable and unstable manifolds of the origin and the number of independent bounded solutions of the variational equation, they obtain saddle-node and pitchfork types of bifurcation results for homoclinic orbits. By using the integrability of the variational equation in the meaning of differential Galois theory, they show a connection of saddle-node and pitchfork bifurcation of homoclinic orbits. An example from coupled real Ginzburg-Landau equations is used to illustrate the theories. By carefully choosing a parameter as the control parameter while fixing the other parameters, it is shown that either saddle-node or pitchfork bifurcation will occur. Furthermore, supercritical or subcritical bifurcation can also be determined.