Analysis of the T-point-Hopf bifurcation

In a parameterized three-dimensional system of autonomous differential equations, a T-point is a point of the parameter space where a special kind of codimension-2 heteroclinic cycle occurs. If the parameter space is three-dimensional, such a bifurcation is located generically on a curve. A more degenerate scenario appears when this curve reaches a surface of Hopf bifurcations of one of the equilibria involved in the heteroclinic cycle. We are interested in the analysis of this codimension-3 bifurcation, which we call T-point-Hopf. In this work we propose a model, based on the construction of a Poincaré map, that describes the global behavior close to a T-point-Hopf bifurcation. The existence of certain kinds of homoclinic and heteroclinic connections between equilibria and/or periodic orbits is proved. The predictions deduced from this model strongly agree with the numerical results obtained in a modified van der Pol–Duffing electronic oscillator.