Bifurcations and chaos of a discrete mathematical model for respiratory process in bacterial culture

Abstract

The discrete mathematical model for the respiratory process in bacterial culture obtained by Euler method is investigated. The conditions of existence for flip bifurcation and Hopf bifurcation are derived by using center manifold theorem and bifurcation theory, condition of existence of chaos in the sense of Marotto’s definition of chaos is proved. The bifurcation diagrams, Lyapunov exponents and phase portraits are given for different parameters of the model, and the fractal dimension of chaotic attractor was also calculated. The numerical simulation results confirm the theoretical analysis and also display the new and complex dynamical behaviors compared with the continuous model. In particular, we found that the new chaotic attractor, and new types of two or four coexisting chaotic attractors, and two coexisting invariant torus.