Instabilities and stickiness in a 3D rotating galactic potential

TL;DR

This study explores the complex dynamics near unstable periodic orbits in a 3D rotating galactic potential, revealing phenomena like stickiness, invariant manifolds, and chaotic orbit behavior through advanced visualization techniques.

Contribution

It provides new insights into the structure of invariant manifolds and the behavior of chaotic orbits near unstable periodic orbits in a 3D galactic system.

Findings

Stickiness occurs near bifurcation points of unstable orbits.

Chaotic orbits form clouds of points with color mixing in 4D space.

Unstable eigensurfaces influence the long-term behavior of chaotic orbits.

Abstract

We study the dynamics in the neighborhood of simple and double unstable periodic orbits in a rotating 3D autonomous Hamiltonian system of galactic type. In order to visualize the four dimensional spaces of section we use the method of color and rotation. We investigate the structure of the invariant manifolds that we found in the neighborhood of simple and double unstable periodic orbits in the 4D spaces of section. We consider orbits in the neighborhood of the families x1v2, belonging to the x1 tree, and the z-axis (the rotational axis of our system). Close to the transition points from stability to simple instability, in the neighborhood of the bifurcated simple unstable x1v2 periodic orbits we encounter the phenomenon of stickiness as the asymptotic curves of the unstable manifold surround regions of the phase space occupied by rotational tori existing in the region. For larger energies, away from the bifurcating point, the consequents of the chaotic orbits form clouds of points with mixing of color in their 4D representations. In the case of double instability, close to x1v2 orbits, we find clouds of points in the four dimensional spaces of section. However, in some cases of double unstable periodic orbits belonging to the z-axis family we can visualize the associated unstable eigensurface. Chaotic orbits close to the periodic orbit remain sticky to this surface for long times (of the order of a Hubble time or more). Among the orbits we studied we found those close to the double unstable orbits of the x1v2 family having the largest diffusion speed.