Small-scale instabilities in dynamical systems with sliding (Q979087)

The paper discusses interesting possible behaviours under stable singular perturbation of Filippov systems, namely dynamical systems defined by discontinuous but piecewise smooth vector fields. The boundaries between domains where the vector field is smooth are termed switching manifolds, and the behaviour of the flow near a switching manifold is of particular interest. One generic behaviour occurs when some region of a switching manifold is attracting from both sides, causing trajectories to become trapped and ``slide'' along the manifold. In one parameter families of such systems, periodic orbits which initially lie in a region where the vector field is smooth may, upon parameter variation, touch (``graze'') the switching manifold, and thereafter have a sliding portion. Such an event is termed a ``grazing-sliding'' bifurcation. Upon stable singular perturbation of the system, two possibilities may occur at the grazing point: a local return map at this point may remain continuous, or it may develop a discontinuity. Thus stable periodic orbits with sliding do not necessarily persist under stable singular perturbation, and near the bifurcation qualitative changes in dynamics, including period-adding cascades and localised chaos are possible. Conditions for the development of a discontinuity in the return map are presented for general graze-slide system with singular perturbation. For a minimal example, asymptotics on the size of the jump at discontinuity as a function of the singular perturbation parameter are presented.