Abstract
We give a brief discussion of the relations between elementary catastrophe theory, general catastrophe theory, singularity theory, bifurcation theory, and topological dynamics. This is intended to clarify the status, and potential applicability, of “catastrophe theory,” a phrase used by different authors and at different times with different meanings. Catastrophe theory has often been criticized for (supposed) applicability only to gradient systems of differential equations; but properly speaking this criticism can apply only to the elementary version of the theory (where it is in any case wrong). Roughly speaking, elementary catastrophe theory deals with the singularities of real-valued functions, general catastrophe theory with singularities of flows. Between these lies singularity theory, which deals with vector-valued functions. All relate strongly to bifurcation theory and topological dynamics. The issue is more subtle than it appears to be, and we describe an example where elementary catastrophe theory has been used to solve a long-standing problem about nongradient flows: degenerate Hopf bifurcation.
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