Shearless curve breakup in the biquadratic nontwist map

Abstract: Nontwist area-preserving maps violate the twist condition along shearless invariant curves, which act as transport barriers in phase space. Recently, some plasma models have presented multiple shearless curves in phase space and these curves can break up independently. In this paper, we describe the different shearless curve breakup scenarios of the so-called biquadratic nontwist map, a recently proposed area-preserving map derived from a plasma model, that captures the essential behavior of systems with multiple shearless curves. Three different scenarios are found and their dependence on the system parameters is analyzed. The results indicate a relation between shearless curve breakup and periodic orbit reconnection-collision sequences. In addition, even after a shearless curve breakup, the remaining curves inhibit global transport.