Global Continuation of Stable Periodic Orbits in Systems of Competing Predators

Abstract

We develop a continuation technique to obtain global families of stable periodic orbits, delimited by transcritical bifurcations at both ends. To this end, we formulate a zero-finding problem whose zeros correspond to families of periodic orbits. We then define a Newton-like fixed-point operator and establish its contraction near a numerically computed approximation of the family. To verify the contraction, we derive sufficient conditions expressed as inequalities on the norms of the fixed-point operator, and involving the numerical approximation. These inequalities are then rigorously checked by the computer via interval arithmetic. To show the efficacy of our approach, we prove the existence of global families in an ecosystem with Holling's type II functional response, and thereby solve a stable connection problem proposed by Butler and Waltman in 1981. Our method does not rely on restricting the choice of parameters and is applicable to many other systems that numerically exhibit global families.