Low-dimensional chaos in surface waves: Theoretical analysis of an experiment

Homoclinic orbits and chaos in a pair of parametrically driven coupled nonlinear resonators

We study the dynamics of a pair of parametrically driven coupled nonlinear mechanical resonators of the kind that is typically encountered in applications involving microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). We take advantage of the weak damping that characterizes these systems to perform a multiple-scales analysis and obtain amplitude equations, describing the slow dynamics of the system. This picture allows us to expose the existence of homoclinic orbits in the dynamics of the integrable part of the slow equations of motion. Using a version of the high-dimensional Melnikov approach, developed by G. Kovačič and S. Wiggins [Physica D 57, 185 (1992)], we are able to obtain explicit parameter values for which these orbits persist in the full system, consisting of both Hamiltonian and non-Hamiltonian perturbations, to form so-called Šilnikov orbits, indicating a loss of integrability and the existence of chaos. Our analytical calculations of Šilnikov orbits are confirmed numerically.

Finite-dimensional turbulence of planetary waves

Finite-dimensional wave turbulence refers to the chaotic dynamics of interacting wave "clusters" consisting of finite number of connected wave triads with exact three-wave resonances. We examine this phenomenon using the example of atmospheric planetary (Rossby) waves. It is shown that the dynamics of the clusters is determined by the types of connections between neighboring triads within a cluster; these correspond to substantially different scenarios of energy flux between different triads. All the possible cases of the energy cascade termination are classified. Free and forced chaotic dynamics in the clusters are investigated: due to the huge fluctuations of the energy exchange between resonant triads these two types of evolution have a lot in common. It is confirmed that finite-dimensional wave turbulence in finite wave systems is fundamentally different from kinetic wave turbulence in infinite systems; the latter is described by wave-kinetic equations that account for interactions with overlapping quasiresonances of finite amplitude waves. The present results are directly applicable to finite-dimensional wave turbulence in any wave system in finite domains with three-mode interactions as encountered in hydrodynamics, astronomy, plasma physics, chemistry, medicine, etc.