Bifurcations of random dynamical systems

Despite its importance for applications, relatively little progress has been made towards the development of a bifurcation theory for random dynamical systems. In this talk, I will demonstrate that adding noise to a deterministic mapping with a pitchfork bifurcation does not destroy the bifurcation, but leads to two different types of bifurcations. The first bifurcation is characterized by a breakdown of uniform attraction, while the second bifurcation can be described topologically. Both bifurcations do not correspond to a change of sign of the Lyapunov exponents, but I will explain that these bifurcations can be characterized by qualitative changes in the dichotomy spectrum and collisions of attractor-repeller pairs. This is joint work with M. Callaway, T.S. Doan, J.S.W Lamb (Imperial College) and C.S. Rodrigues (MPI Leipzig).Non UBCUnreviewedAuthor affiliation: Imperial College LondonFacult