Some Results on Chua's Equation Near a Triple-Zero Linear Degeneracy

In this work we study a wide class of symmetric control systems that has the Chua's circuit as a prototype. Namely, we compute normal forms for Takens–Bogdanov and triple-zero bifurcations in a class of symmetric control systems and determine the local bifurcations that emerge from such degeneracies. The analytical results are used as a first guide to detect numerically several codimension-three global bifurcations that act as organizing centres of the complex dynamics Chua's circuit exhibits in the parameter range considered. A detailed (although partial) bifurcation set in a three'parameter space is presented in this paper. We show relations between several high-codimension bifurcations of equilibria, periodic orbits and global connections. Some of the global bifurcations found have been neither analytically nor numerically treated in the literature.