A procedure for finding numerical trajectories on chaotic saddles (Q805033)

The authors consider a diffeomorphism F of the plane and a compact region R containing no attractors of F. It is supposed that R contains a chaotic invariant set of F. They construct a numerical method for finding trajectories of F which remain in R for arbitrarily long time. The method is based on PIM (Proper Interior Maximum) triples of points (a,b,c) in R, i.e. such that 1) c is an interior point of the line segment joining a and b; 2) the escape time of c from R is greater than both escape times of a and b. It is shown that a procedure based on PIM triples converges in ideal situations. Results of applications of the method for the Smale horseshoe map, for the Lorenz equation, for a periodically perturbed pendulum are discussed.