arXiv subjects

Michele Mugnaine

Publications and source records attributed to Michele Mugnaine.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Hierarchical fragmentation of regular islands in a discontinuous nontwist map

The destruction of regular regions in two-dimensional, area-preserving maps is traditionally described in terms of the breakup of invariant curves and the persistence of transport barriers. Here, we investigate how this scenario changes when continuity is lost. We study the extended standard nontwist map with a perturbation whose period differs from a full revolution on the cylinder. In this setting, the induced map on the cylinder becomes discontinuous, even though the map remains smooth on the real line. Using complementary chaos diagnostics, we find that regular islands are not enclosed by a single invariant curve but instead undergo hierarchical fragmentation into smaller regular components connected by chaotic channels. We show that trajectories initialized near elliptic points exhibit long trapping followed by escape, ruling out the existence of a global transport barrier. The fragmentation occurs when island chains are centered on the discontinuity line, while island chains away from it preserve the conventional islands-around-islands structure. By restoring continuity of the induced map on the cylinder in a modified formulation, we recover smooth invariant curves and eliminate fragmentation, demonstrating that the hierarchical structure originates from discontinuity rather than twist violation alone. Similar behavior is also observed in other two-dimensional area-preserving maps, indicating that the phenomenon is not restricted to nontwist systems.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2025

pynamicalsys: A Python toolkit for the analysis of dynamical systems

Since Lorenz's seminal work on a simplified weather model, the numerical analysis of nonlinear dynamical systems has become one of the main subjects of research in physics. Despite of that, there remains a need for accessible, efficient, and easy-to-use computational tools to study such systems. In this paper, we introduce pynamicalsys, a simple yet powerful open-source Python module for the analysis of nonlinear dynamical systems. In particular, pynamicalsys implements tools for trajectory simulation, bifurcation diagrams, Lyapunov exponents and several others chaotic indicators, period orbit detection and their manifolds, as well as escape and basins analysis. It also includes many built-in models and the use of custom models is straighforward. We demonstrate the capabilities of pynamicalsys through a series of examples that reproduces well-known results in the literature while developing the mathematical analysis at the same time. We also provide the Jupyter notebook containing all the code used in this paper, including performance benchmarks. pynamicalsys is freely available via the Python Package Index (PyPI) and is indented to support both research and teaching in nonlinear dynamics.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2025

Isochronous bifurcations dependence on the driving mode phase shift in two-harmonic standard maps

Some dynamical properties of nonlinear coupled systems can be described by the two-harmonic standard map, a two-dimensional area-preserving system with two parameters, where two distinct arbitrary resonant modes compete. Usually, the initial phase of the resonant modes is considered to be null. In this paper, we consider a non-null phase shift between the two competing isochronous modes that form the system. We observe that a non-zero phase shift alters the phase space, changing the stability and positions of the fixed points. Furthermore, the phase shift can change the dominant mode and create intermediate modes between the main ones. Lastly, we analyze the effect of the phase shift on the onset of secondary shearless curves in the phase space. Thus, different phase shifts result in various scenarios in which secondary shearless curves emerge in the phase space.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2025

Isochronous islands in the two-harmonic standard map

Isochronous islands are regular solutions related to different chains of elliptic points but with the same winding number. These isochronous islands emerge in phase space as a response to multiple resonant perturbations and can be simulated using a simple discrete model called the two-harmonic standard map. We observed three types of isochronous transitions, which can be formed through saddle-node and pitchfork bifurcations.

physics.gen-ph↗

arXiv2024

Shearless bifurcations for two isochronous resonant perturbations

In nontwist systems, primary shearless curves act as barriers to chaotic transport. Surprisingly, the onset of secondary shearless curves has been reported in a few twist systems. Meanwhile, we found that, in twist systems, the onset of these secondary shearless curves is a standard process that may appear as control parameters are varied in situations where there is resonant mode coupling. Namely, we analyze these shearless bifurcations in two-harmonic systems for the standard map, the Ullmann map, and for the Walker-Ford Hamiltonian flow. The onset of shearless curves is related to bifurcations of periodic points. Furthermore, depending on the bifurcation, these shearless curves can emerge alone or in pairs, and in some cases, deform into separatrices.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2024

Shrinking shrimp-shaped domains and multistability in the dissipative asymmetric kicked rotor map

An interesting feature in dissipative nonlinear systems is the emergence of characteristic domains in parameter space that exhibit periodic temporal evolution, known as shrimp-shaped domains. We investigate the parameter space of the dissipative asymmetric kicked rotor map and show that, in the regime of strong dissipation, the shrimp-shaped domains repeat themselves as the nonlinearity parameter increases while maintaining the same period. We analyze the dependence of the length of each periodic domain with the nonlinearity parameter, revealing that it follows a power law with the same exponent regardless of the dissipation parameter. Additionally, we find that the distance between adjacent shrimp-shaped domains is scaling invariant with respect to the dissipation parameter. Furthermore, we show that for weaker dissipation, a multistable scenario emerges within the periodic domains. We find that as the dissipation gets weaker, the ratio of multistable parameters for each periodic domain increases, and the area of the periodic basin decreases as the nonlinearity parameter increases.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2023

A nontwist field line mapping in a tokamak with ergodic magnetic limiter

For tokamaks with uniform magnetic shear, Martin and Taylor have proposed a symplectic map has been used to describe the magnetic field lines at the plasma edge perturbed by an ergodic magnetic limiter. We propose an analytical magnetic field line map, based on the Martin-Taylor map, for a tokamak with arbitrary safety factor profile. With the inclusion of a non-monotonic profile, we obtain a nontwist map which presents the characteristic properties of degenerate systems, as the twin islands scenario, the shearless curve and separatrix reconnection. We estimate the width of the islands and describe their changes of shape for large values of the limiter current. From our numerical simulations about the shearless curve, we show that its position and aspect depend on the control parameters.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

Isochronous bifurcations in a two-parameter twist map

Isochronous islands in phase space emerge in twist Hamiltonian systems as a response to multiple resonant perturbations. According to the Poincaré-Birkhoff theorem, the number of islands depends on the system characteristics and the perturbation. We analyze, for the two-parameter standard map, also called two-harmonic standard map, how the island chains are modified as the perturbation amplitude increases. We identified three routes for the transition from one chain, associated with one harmonic, to the chain associated with the other harmonic, based on a combination of pitchfork and saddle-node bifurcations. These routes can present intermediate island chains configurations. Otherwise, the destruction of the islands always occurs through the pitchfork bifurcation.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2023

Hamiltonian description for magnetic field lines: a tutorial

Under certain circumstances, the equations for the magnetic field lines can be recast in a canonical form, after defining a suitable field line Hamiltonian. This analogy is extremely useful for dealing with a variety of problems involving magnetically confined plasmas, like in tokamaks and other toroidal devices, where there is usually one symmetric coordinate which plays the role of time in the canonical equations. In this tutorial paper we review the basics of the Hamiltonian description for magnetic field lines, emphasizing the role of a variational principle and gauge invariance. We present representative applications of the formalism, using cylindrical and magnetic flux coordinates in tokamak plasmas.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2023

Stickiness and recurrence plots: an entropy-based approach

The stickiness effect is a fundamental feature of quasi-integrable Hamiltonian systems. We propose the use of an entropy-based measure of the recurrence plots (RP), namely, the entropy of the distribution of the recurrence times (estimated from the RP), to characterize the dynamics of a typical quasi-integrable Hamiltonian system with coexisting regular and chaotic regions. We show that the recurrence time entropy (RTE) is positively correlated to the largest Lyapunov exponent, with a high correlation coefficient. We obtain a multi-modal distribution of the finite-time RTE and find that each mode corresponds to the motion around islands of different hierarchical levels.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2022

Effect of two vaccine doses in the SEIR epidemic model using a stochastic cellular automaton

In this work, to support decision making of immunisation strategies, we propose the inclusion of two vaccination doses in the SEIR model considering a stochastic cellular automaton. We analyse three different scenarios of vaccination: $i) unlimited doses, (ii) limited doses into susceptible individuals, and (iii) limited doses randomly distributed overall individuals. Our results suggest that the number of vaccinations and time to start the vaccination is more relevant than the vaccine efficacy, delay between the first and second doses, and delay between vaccinated groups. The scenario (i) shows that the solution can converge early to a disease-free equilibrium for a fraction of individuals vaccinated with the first dose. In the scenario (ii), few two vaccination doses divided into a small number of applications reduce the number of infected people more than into many applications. In addition, there is a low waste of doses for the first application and an increase of the waste in the second dose. The scenario (iii) presents an increase in the waste of doses from the first to second applications more than the scenario $(ii)$. In the scenario (iii), the total of wasted doses increases linearly with the number of applications. Furthermore, the number of effective doses in the application of consecutive groups decays exponentially overtime.

nlin.CG↗

arXiv2021

Simulation of deterministic compartmental models for infectious diseases dynamics

Infectious diseases are caused by pathogenic microorganisms and can spread through different ways. Mathematical models and computational simulation have been used extensively to investigate the transmission and spread of infectious diseases. In other words, mathematical model simulation can be used to analyse the dynamics of infectious diseases, aiming to understand the effects and how to control the spread. In general, these models are based on compartments, where each compartment contains individuals with the same characteristics, such as susceptible, exposed, infected, and recovered. In this paper, we cast further light on some classical epidemic models, reporting possible outcomes from numerical simulation. Furthermore, we provide routines in a repository for simulations.

q-bio.PE↗