Alexey Kazakov

This special issue is dedicated to the anniversaries of two famous Russian mathematicians, Sergey V.Gonchenko and Vladimir N.Belykh. Over the years, they have made a lasting impact in the theory of dynamical systems and applications. In this issue we have collected a series of papers by their friends and colleagues devoted to modern aspects and trends of the theory of dynamical chaos.

We consider a homotopic to the identity family of maps, obtained as a discretization of the Lorenz system, such that the dynamics of the last is recovered as a limit dynamics when the discretization parameter tends to zero. We investigate the structure of the discrete Lorenzlike attractors that the map shows for different values of parameters. In particular, we check the pseudohyperbolicity of the observed discrete attractors and show how to use interpolating vector fields to compute kneading diagrams for near-identity maps. For larger discretization parameter values, the map exhibits what appears to be genuinely-discrete Lorenz-like attractors, that is, discrete chaotic pseudohyperbolic attractors with a negative second Lyapunov exponent. The numerical methods used are general enough to be adapted for arbitrary near-identity discrete systems with similar phase space structure.

We consider reversible nonconservative perturbations of the conservative cubic Hénon maps $H_3^{\pm}: \bar x = y, \bar y = -x + M_1 + M_2 y \pm y^3$ and study their influence on the 1:3 resonance, i.e., bifurcations of fixed points with eigenvalues $e^{\pm i 2\pi/3}$. It follows from [1] that this resonance is degenerate for $M_1=0$, $M_2=-1$ when the corresponding fixed point is elliptic. We show that bifurcations of this point under reversible perturbations give rise to four 3-periodic orbits, two of them are symmetric and conservative (saddles in the case of map $H_3^+$ and elliptic orbits in the case of map $H_3^-$), the other two orbits are nonsymmetric and they compose symmetric couples of dissipative orbits (attracting and repelling orbits in the case of map $H_3^+$ and saddles with the Jacobians less than 1 and greater than 1 in the case of map $H_3^-$). We show that these local symmetry-breaking bifurcations can lead to mixed dynamics due to accompanying global reversible bifurcations of symmetric nontransversal homo- and heteroclinic cycles. We also generalize the results of [1] to the case of the $p:q$ resonances with odd $q$ and show that all of them are also degenerate for the maps $H_3^{\pm}$ with $M_1=0$.

This paper is concerned with the rolling motion of a dynamically asymmetric unbalanced ball (Chaplygin top) in a gravitational field on a plane under the assumption that there is no slipping and spinning at the point of contact. We give a description of strange attractors existing in the system and discuss in detail the scenario of how one of them arises via a sequence of period-doubling bifurcations. In addition, we analyze the dynamics of the system in absolute space and show that in the presence of strange attractors in the system the behavior of the point of contact considerably depends on the characteristics of the attractor and can be both chaotic and nearly quasi-periodic.

This paper presents a numerical study of the chaotic dynamics of a dynamically asymmetric unbalanced ball (Chaplygin top) rolling on a plane. It is well known that the dynamics of such a system reduces to the investigation of a three-dimensional map, which in the general case has no smooth invariant measure. It is shown that homoclinic strange attractors of discrete spiral type (discrete Shilnikov type attractors) arise in this model for certain parameters. From the viewpoint of physical motions, the trace of the contact point of a Chaplygin top on a plane is studied for the case where the phase trajectory sweeps out a discrete spiral attractor. Using the analysis of the trajectory of this trace, a conclusion is drawn about the influence of “strangeness” of the attractor on the motion pattern of the top.

In this article a new model of motif (small ensemble) of neuron-like elements is proposed. It is built with the use of the generalized Lotka–Volterra model with excitatory couplings. The main motivation for this work comes from the problems of neuroscience where excitatory couplings are proved to be the predominant type of interaction between neurons of the brain. In this paper it is shown that there are two modes depending on the type of coupling between the elements: the mode with a stable heteroclinic cycle and the mode with a stable limit cycle. Our second goal is to examine the chaotic dynamics of the generalized three-dimensional Lotka–Volterra model.

In this paper, we present some results on chaotic dynamics in the Suslov problem which describe the motion of a heavy rigid body with a fixed point, subject to a nonholonomic constraint, which is expressed by the condition that the projection of angular velocity onto the body-fixed axis is equal to zero. Depending on the system parameters, we find cases of regular (in particular, integrable) behavior and detect various attracting sets (including strange attractors) that are typical of dissipative systems. We construct a chart of regimes with regions characterizing chaotic and regular regimes depending on the degree of conservativeness. We examine in detail the effect of reversal, which was observed previously in the motion of rattlebacks.

In this paper we consider the motion of a dynamically asymmetric unbalanced ball on a plane in a gravitational field. The point of contact of the ball with the plane is subject to a nonholonomic constraint which forbids slipping. The motion of the ball is governed by the nonholonomic reversible system of 6 differential equations. In the case of arbitrary displacement of the center of mass of the ball the system under consideration is a nonintegrable system without an invariant measure. Using qualitative and quantitative analysis we show that the unbalanced ball exhibits reversal (the phenomenon of reversal of the direction of rotation) for some parameter values. Moreover, by constructing charts of Lyaponov exponents we find a few types of strange attractors in the system, including the so-called figure-eight attractor which belongs to the genuine strange attractors of pseudohyperbolic type.

We consider the dynamics of an unbalanced rubber ball rolling on a rough plane. The term rubber means that the vertical spinning of the ball is impossible. The roughness of the plane means that the ball moves without slipping. The motions of the ball are described by a nonholonomic system reversible with respect to several involutions whose number depends on the type of displacement of the center of mass. This system admits a set of first integrals, which helps to reduce its dimension. Thus, the use of an appropriate two-dimensional Poincaré map is enough to describe the dynamics of our system. We demonstrate for this system the existence of complex chaotic dynamics such as strange attractors and mixed dynamics. The type of chaotic behavior depends on the type of reversibility. In this paper we describe the development of a strange attractor and then its basic properties. After that we show the existence of another interesting type of chaos — the so-called mixed dynamics. In numerical experiments, a set of criteria by which the mixed dynamics may be distinguished from other types of dynamical chaos in two-dimensional maps is given.

We study the regular and chaotic dynamics of two nonholonomic models of a Celtic stone. We show that in the first model (the so-called BM-model of a Celtic stone) the chaotic dynamics arises sharply, during a subcritical period doubling bifurcation of a stable limit cycle, and undergoes certain stages of development under the change of a parameter including the appearance of spiral (Shilnikov-like) strange attractors and mixed dynamics. For the second model, we prove (numerically) the existence of Lorenz-like attractors (we call them discrete Lorenz attractors) and trace both scenarios of development and break-down of these attractors.