title: Transition to chaos in continuous-time random dynamical systems.
abstract: We consider situations where, in a continuous-time dynamical system, a nonchaotic attractor coexists with a nonattracting chaotic saddle, as in a periodic window. Under the influence of noise, chaos can arise. We investigate the fundamental dynamical mechanism responsible for the transition and obtain a general scaling law for the largest Lyapunov exponent. A striking finding is that the topology of the flow is fundamentally disturbed after the onset of noisy chaos, and we point out that such a disturbance is due to changes in the number of unstable eigendirections along a continuous trajectory under the influence of noise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mathematics, Center for Systems Science and Engineering Research, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287, USA.
authors.forename: Zonghua
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ying-Cheng
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Lora
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Billings
authors.forename: Ira B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Schwartz