Towards a unified bifurcation theory

• DOI: 10.1007/bf01594031
• Publication Date: 2005-04-28T21:50:53Z
• Authors: John M. T. Thompson; Giles W. Hunt
• Keywords: 0101 mathematics; 01 natural sciences

Bifurcation theories for the instability of slowly evolving systems have been developed in various disciplines, and a first step is here taken towards some desirable unification. A modern account of the authors' general branching theory for discrete systems is first presented, some new features being the introduction of principal imperfections and the delineation of the important semi-symmetric points of bifurcation. This theory, embedded in a perturbation approach ideal for quantitative analysis, is complementary to the far-reaching qualitative catastrophe theory of Rene Thom which offers a profound topological classification of instability phenomena. For this reason, we present here a detailed correlation of the two theories. Also presented in the paper is a survey of some fields of application ranging from classical fields such as hydrodynamics, through thermodynamics, crystallography and cosmology, to the newer domains of biology and psychology.