Hyperbolic Structure and Stickiness Effect: A case of a 2D Area-Preserving Twist Mapping

Abstract: The stickiness effect suffered by chaotic orbits diffusing in the phase space of a dynamical system is studied in this paper. Previous works have shown that the hyperbolic structures in the phase space play an essential role in causing the stickiness effect. We present in this paper the relationship between the stickiness effect and the geometric property of hyperbolic structures. Using a two-dimensional area-preserving twist mapping as the model, we develop the numerical algorithms for computing the positions of the hyperbolic periodic orbits and for calculating the angle between the stable and unstable manifolds of the hyperbolic periodic orbit. We show how the stickiness effect and the orbital diffusion speed are related to the angle.