Fast–Slow Dynamics and Bifurcation Mechanism in a Novel Chaotic System

Abstract

This paper proposes a novel three-dimensional chaotic system with multiple coexisting attractors, where different values of a constant control parameter may drive the chaotic behaviors to evolve from single-scroll to double-scroll attractors. When the controlling term is replaced by a periodic harmonic excitation where the exciting frequency is far less than the natural frequency, chaotic movement may disappear, while periodic bursting oscillations will take place. Based on the fact that during a period defined by the natural frequency, the exciting term keeps almost a constant, the whole exciting term can be regarded as a slow-varying parameter resulting in a generalized autonomous system, its equilibrium branches as well as the related bifurcations occurring with the variation of the slow-varying parameter are derived. With the increase of the exciting amplitude, asymmetric and symmetric bursting attractors can be observed, for which the mechanism can be analyzed by the overlap of the equilibrium branches and the transformed phase portraits. With different values of the exciting amplitude corresponding to the change region of the slow-varying parameter, different bifurcations such as fold and Hopf bifurcations may involve the bursting structures, leading to different types of bursting oscillations. Furthermore, the phase space can be divided into two regions by a line boundary because of the symmetry of the vector field. When the trajectory from one region returning to the region arrives at the boundary, two asymmetric bursting attractors located in different regions coexist, which are symmetric to each other. However, when the trajectory passes across the boundary, an enlarged symmetric bursting attractor can be observed, whose trajectory connects the two original asymmetric attractors. Furthermore, it is found that when the trajectory runs along a stable equilibrium branch to the bifurcation point, it may move almost strictly along an unstable equilibrium branch of the fast subsystem because of the delay influence of the bifurcation.