CHAOS OF DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS ON GENERAL TIME DOMAINS

Abstract

We consider dynamical systems on time domains that alternate between continuous time intervals and discrete time intervals. The dynamics on the continuous portions may represent species growth when there is population overlap and are governed by differential or partial differential equations. The dynamics across the discrete time intervals are governed by a chaotic map and may represent population growth which is seasonal. We study the long term dynamics of this combined system. We study various conditions on the continuous time dynamics and discrete time dynamics that produce chaos and alternatively nonchaos for the combined system. When the discrete system alone is chaotic we provide a condition on the continuous dynamical component such that the combined system behaves chaotically. We also provide a condition that ensures that if the discrete time system has an absolutely continuous invariant measure so will the combined system. An example based on the logistic continuous time and logistic discrete time component is worked out.