Bifurcations, Center Manifolds, and Periodic Solutions David E. Gilsinn National Institute of Standards and Technology 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8910 Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8910
[email protected] Summary. Nonlinear time delay differential equations are well known to have arisen in models in physiology, biology and population dynamics. These delay differ- ential equations usually have parameters in their formulation. How the nature of the solutions change as the parameters vary is crucial to understanding the underlying physical processes. When the delay differential equation is reduced, at an equilibrium point, to leading linear terms and the remaining nonlinear terms, the eigenvalues of the leading coefficients indicate the nature of the solutions in the neighborhood of the equilibrium point. If there are any eigenvalues with zero real parts, periodic so- lutions can arise. One way in which this can happen is through a bifurcation process called a Hopf bifurcation in which a parameter passes through a critical value and the solutions change from equilibrium solutions to periodic solutions. This chap- ter describes a method of decomposing the delay differential equation into a form that isolates the study of the periodic solutions arising from a Hopf bifurcation to the study of a reduced size differential equation on a surface, called a center man- ifold. The method will be illustrated by a Hopf bifurcation that arises in machine tool dynamics, which leads to a machining instability called regenerative chatter. Keywords: Center manifolds, delay differential equations, exponential polynomi- als, Hopf bifurcation, limit cycle, machine tool chatter, normal form, semigroup of operators, subcritical bifurcation. 1 Background With the advent of new technologies for measurement instrumentation, it has become possible to detect time delays in feedback signals that affect a physical system’s performance.