Constructing invariant tori for two weakly coupled van der Pol oscillators

Abstract

An algorithm is developed for the construction of an invariant torus of a weakly coupled autonomous oscillator. The system is put into angular standard form. The determining equations are found by averaging and are solved for the approximate amplitudes of the torus. A perturbation series is then constructed about the approximate amplitudes with unknown coefficients as periodic functions of the angular variables. A sequence of solvable partial differential equations is developed for determining the coefficients. The algorithm is applied to a system of nonlinearly coupled van der Pol equations and the first order coefficients are generated in a straightforward manner. The approximation shows both good numerical accuracy and reproducibility of the periodicities of the van der Pol system. A comparitive analysis of integrating the van der Pol system with integrating the phase equations from the angular standard form on the approximate torus shows numerical errors of the order of the perturbation parameter ɛ=0.05 for integrations of up to 10,000 steps. Applying FFT to the numerical periodicities generated by integrating the van der Pol system near the tours reveals the same predominant frequencies found in the perturbation coefficients. Finally an expected rotation number is found by integrating the phase equations on the approximate torus.