# Hopf-Zero singularities truly unfold chaos

## TL;DR

This paper establishes computable conditions under which analytic unfoldings of Hopf-Zero singularities exhibit Shilnikov bifurcations, leading to chaotic dynamics, thus providing a definitive link between singularity unfoldings and chaos.

## Contribution

It introduces a new, computable criterion for detecting Shilnikov bifurcations in analytic unfoldings of Hopf-Zero singularities, confirming chaos in generic cases.

## Key findings

- Conditions for Shilnikov bifurcations are computable and generic.
- Analytic unfoldings of Hopf-Zero singularities contain Shilnikov homoclinic orbits.
- Chaotic dynamics are guaranteed under the established conditions.

## Abstract

We provide conditions to guarantee the occurrence of Shilnikov bifurcations in analytic unfoldings of some Hopf-Zero singularities through a beyond all order phenomenon: the exponentially small breakdown of invariant manifolds which coincide at any order of the normal form procedure. The conditions are computable and satisfied by generic singularities and generic unfoldings. The existence of Shilnikov bifurcations in the $\mathcal{C}^r$ case was already argued by Guckenheimer in the $80$'s. About the same time, endowing the space of $\mathcal{C}^\infty$ unfoldings with a convenient topology, persistence and density of the Shilnikov phenomenon was proved by Broer and Vegter in 1984. However, since the proof involves the use of flat perturbations, this approach is not valid in the analytic context. What is more, none of the mentioned approaches provide a computable criteria to decide whether a given unfolding exhibits Shilnikov bifurcations or not. This work ends the whole discussion by showing that, under generic and checkable hypothesis, any analytic unfolding of a Hopf-Zero singularity within the appropriate class contains Shilnikov homoclinic orbits, and as a consequence chaotic dynamics.