text: We consider a mechanical system consisting of n-penduli and a d-degree-of-freedom rotator. The phase space of the rotator defines a normally hyperbolic invariant manifold ( _0 ). We apply a time-dependent perturbation, which is not assumed to be either Hamiltonian, or periodic, or quasi-periodic, as we allow for rather general time dependence. The strength of the perturbation is given by a parameter ( R ). For all (| | ) sufficiently small, the augmented flow—obtained by making the time into a new variable—has a normally hyperbolic locally invariant manifold ( _ ). For ( =0 ), ( _0= _0 R ). We define a Melnikov-type vector, which gives the first-order expansion of the displacement of the stable and unstable manifolds of ( _0 ) under the perturbation. We provide an explicit formula for the Melnikov vector in terms of convergent improper integrals of the perturbation along homoclinic orbits of the unperturbed system. We show that if the perturbation satisfies some explicit non-degeneracy conditions, then the stable and unstable manifolds of ( _ ), (W^ s ( _ ) ) and (W^ u ( _ ) ), respectively, intersect along a transverse homoclinic manifold, and, moreover, the splitting of (W^ s ( _ ) ) and (W^ u ( _ ) ) can be explicitly computed, up to the first order, in terms of the Melnikov-type vector. This implies that the excursions along some homoclinic trajectories yield a non-trivial increase of order (O( ) ) in the action variables of the rotator, for all sufficiently small perturbations. The formulas that we obtain are independent of the unperturbed motions in ( _0 ), and give, at the same time, the effects on periodic, quasi-periodic, or general-type orbits. When the perturbation is Hamiltonian, we express the effects of the perturbation, up to the first order, in terms of a Melnikov potential. In addition, if the perturbation is periodic, we obtain that the non-degeneracy conditions on the Melnikov potential are generic.
  @cite_30: 
  @cite_14: We give a proof based in geometric perturbation theory of a result proved by J. N. Mather using variational methods. Namely, the existence of orbits with unbounded energy in perturbations of a generic geodesic flow in ?2 by a generic periodic potential.
  @cite_22: We study families of volume preserving diffeomorphisms in R3 that have a pair of hyperbolic fixed points with intersecting codimension one stable and unstable manifolds. Our goal is to elucidate the topology of the intersections and how it changes with the parameters of the system. We show that the “primary intersection” of the stable and unstable manifolds is generically a neat submanifold of a “fundamental domain.” We compute the intersections perturbatively using a codimension one Melnikov function. Numerical experiments show various bifurcations in the homotopy class of the primary intersections.
  @cite_9: We consider models given by Hamiltonians of the form View the MathML sourceH(I,f,p,q,t;e)=h(I)+?j=1n±(12pj2+Vj(qj))+eQ(I,f,p,q,t;e) Turn MathJax on where I?I?Rd,f?TdI?I?Rd,f?Td, p,q?Rnp,q?Rn, t?T1t?T1. These are higher dimensional analogues, both in the center and hyperbolic directions, of the models studied in , and and are usually called “a-priori unstable Hamiltonian systems”. All these models present the large gap problem. We show that, for 0<e«10<e«1, under regularity and explicit non-degeneracy conditions on the model, there are orbits whose action variables I perform rather arbitrary excursions in a domain of size O(1)O(1). This domain includes resonance lines and, hence, large gaps among d-dimensional KAM tori. This phenomenon is known as Arnold diffusion. The method of proof follows closely the strategy of and . The main new phenomenon that appears when the dimension d of the center directions is larger than one is the existence of multiple resonances in the space of actions I?I?RdI?I?Rd. We show that, since these multiple resonances happen in sets of codimension greater than one in the space of actions I, they can be contoured. This corresponds to the mechanism called diffusion across resonances in the Physics literature. The present paper, however, differs substantially from and . On the technical details of the proofs, we have taken advantage of the theory of the scattering map developed in [31]—notably the symplectic properties—which were not available when the above papers were written. We have analyzed the conditions imposed on the resonances in more detail. More precisely, we have found that there is a simple condition on the Melnikov potential which allows us to conclude that the resonances are crossed. In particular, this condition does not depend on the resonances. So that the results are new even when applied to the models in and
  @cite_3: We study perturbations of diffeomorphisms that have a saddle connection between a pair of normally hyperbolic invariant manifolds. We develop a first-order deformation calculus for invariant manifolds and show that a generalized Melnikov function or Melnikov displacement can be written in a canonical way. This function is defined to be a section of the normal bundle of the saddle connection.We show how our definition reproduces the classical methods of Poincare and Melnikov and specializes in methods previously used for exact symplectic and volume-preserving maps. We use the method to detect the transverse intersection of stable and unstable manifolds and relate this intersection to the set of zeros of the Melnikov displacement.
  @cite_27: We present a general mechanism to establish the existence of diffusing orbits in a large class of nearly integrable Hamiltonian systems. Our approach relies on successive applications of the outer dynamics' along homoclinic orbits to a normally hyperbolic invariant manifold. The information on the outer dynamics is encoded by a geometrically defined map, referred to as the scattering map'. We find pseudo-orbits of the scattering map that keep advancing in some privileged direction. Then we use the recurrence property of the inner dynamics', restricted to the normally hyperbolic invariant manifold, to return to those pseudo-orbits. Finally, we apply topological methods to show the existence of true orbits that follow the successive applications of the two dynamics. This method differs, in several crucial aspects, from earlier works. Unlike the well known two-dynamics' approach, the method we present relies on the outer dynamics alone. There are virtually no assumptions on the inner dynamics, as its invariant objects (e.g., primary and secondary tori, lower dimensional hyperbolic tori and their stable unstable manifolds, Aubry-Mather sets) are not used at all. The method applies to unperturbed Hamiltonians of arbitrary degrees of freedom that are not necessarily convex. In addition, this mechanism is easy to verify (analytically or numerically) in concrete examples, as well as to establish diffusion in generic systems. We include several applications, such as bridging large gaps in a priori unstable models in any dimension, and establishing diffusion in cases when the inner dynamics is a non-twist map.
  @cite_23: Abstract We make explicit the geometric content of Mel’nikov’s method for detecting heteroclinic points between transversally hyperbolic periodic orbits. After developing the general theory of intersections for pairs of families of Lagrangian submanifolds N e ± , with N 0 + = N 0 − and constrained to live in an auxiliary family of submanifolds, we explain how the heteroclinic orbits of a given Hamiltonian system are detected by the zeros of the Mel’nikov 1-form. This 1-form admits an integral expression which is non-convergent in general. We discuss different solutions to this convergence problem.
  @cite_31: We show that certain mechanical systems, including a geodesic °ow in any dimension plus a quasi-periodic perturbation by a potential, have orbits of unbounded energy. The assumptions we make in the case of geodesic °ows are: a) The metric and the external perturbation are smooth enough. b) The geodesic °ow has a hyperbolic periodic orbit such that its stable and unstable manifolds have a tranverse homoclinic intersection. c) The frequency of the external perturbation is Diophantine. d) The external potential satisOes a generic condition depending on the periodic orbit considered in b). The assumptions on the metric are C2 open and are known to be dense on many manifolds. The assumptions on the potential fail only in inOnite codimension spaces of potentials. The proof is based on geometric considerations of invariant manifolds and their intersections. The main tools include the scattering map of normally hyperbolic invariant manifolds, as well as standard perturbation theories (averaging, KAM and Melnikov techniques). We do not need to assume that the metric is Riemannian and we obtain results for Finsler or Lorentz metrics. Indeed, there is a formulation for Hamiltonian systems satisfying scaling hypotheses. We do not need to make assumptions on the global topology of the manifold nor on its dimension.
  @cite_10: Introduction Heuristic discussion of the mechanism A simple model Statement of rigorous results Notation and definitions, resonances Geometric features of the unperturbed problem Persistence of the normally hyperbolic invariant manifold and its stable and unstable manifolds The dynamics in @math The scattering map Existence of transition chains Orbits shadowing the transition chains and proof of Theorem 4.1 Conclusions and remarks An example Acknowledgments Bibliography.
summary: Some other related papers are @cite_30 @cite_22 @cite_14 @cite_10 @cite_31 @cite_23 @cite_3 @cite_9 @cite_27 .