Hidden and self-excited coexisting attractors in a Lorenz-like system with two equilibrium points

Abstract

This paper reports the finding of unusual hidden and self-excited coexisting dynamical behaviors in an existing Lorenz-like system. For different parameters, the system has different types of equilibrium points, such as saddle-nodes, stable focus-nodes, saddle-foci and nonhyperbolic equilibrium points, which can be used to find different types of hidden and self-excited attractors. The different types of attractors have been vividly demonstrated by several numerical techniques including phase portraits, bifurcation diagrams and basins of attraction. Very interestingly, we find the rare coexistence of chaotic attractor and periodic orbits in the Lorenz-like system with two saddle-foci.