Non-Normal Route to Chaos

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Sornette, D., Saiprasad, V. R., Troude, V.
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Sornette, D.
Saiprasad, V. R.
Troude, V.
author_facet Sornette, D.
Saiprasad, V. R.
Troude, V.
contents Deterministic chaos is commonly associated with spectral criticality: exponential sensitivity is expected when Jacobian eigenvalues exceed unity in parts of the attractor, producing the local expansion that offsets contraction elsewhere. We show that this paradigm is incomplete in dimensions d>1. We construct a bounded 3D dynamical system whose Jacobian is pointwise spectrally contracting, namely all instantaneous eigenvalues remain strictly inside the stability region, yet the system develops a positive maximal Lyapunov exponent and undergoes a transition to chaos as a non-normality index increases at fixed spectral radius. The mechanism relies on the repeated regeneration of transient non-normal amplification through endogenous switching that reinjects trajectories into amplifying non-orthogonal directions. Although demonstrated here for a discrete-time map, the mechanism is geometric and applies more broadly to deterministic dynamical systems. These results show that chaos can emerge without spectral criticality and identify non-normality as an independent route to deterministic chaos.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_08191
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Non-Normal Route to Chaos
Sornette, D.
Saiprasad, V. R.
Troude, V.
Chaotic Dynamics
Applied Physics
Deterministic chaos is commonly associated with spectral criticality: exponential sensitivity is expected when Jacobian eigenvalues exceed unity in parts of the attractor, producing the local expansion that offsets contraction elsewhere. We show that this paradigm is incomplete in dimensions d>1. We construct a bounded 3D dynamical system whose Jacobian is pointwise spectrally contracting, namely all instantaneous eigenvalues remain strictly inside the stability region, yet the system develops a positive maximal Lyapunov exponent and undergoes a transition to chaos as a non-normality index increases at fixed spectral radius. The mechanism relies on the repeated regeneration of transient non-normal amplification through endogenous switching that reinjects trajectories into amplifying non-orthogonal directions. Although demonstrated here for a discrete-time map, the mechanism is geometric and applies more broadly to deterministic dynamical systems. These results show that chaos can emerge without spectral criticality and identify non-normality as an independent route to deterministic chaos.
title Non-Normal Route to Chaos
topic Chaotic Dynamics
Applied Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.08191