Border-collision bifurcations: An explanation for observed bifurcation phenomena

Abstract

Recently physical and computer experiments involving systems describable by continuous maps that are nondifferentiable on some surface in phase space have revealed novel bifurcation phenomena. These phenomena are part of a rich new class of bifurcations which we call border-collision bifurcations. A general criterion for the occurrence of border-collision bifurcations is given. Illustrative numerical results, including transitions to chaotic attractors, are presented. These border-collision bifurcations are found in a variety of physical experiments.