On–Off Intermittency Associated with the Breakdown of One–Dimensional Motion

The chaotic motion of a particle in a rotationally symmetric Mexican hat potential subjected to a periodic external force is found to undergo a symmetry-- breaking instability as the forcing amplitude is increased. Below the threshold the motion is confined to one space dimension, whereas beyond the instability the particle starts to move in both dimensions. At the onset the system exhibits the so--called on--off intermittency. The statistical characteristics on both sides of the bifurcation point are studied in comparison with previous investigations of on--off intermittency. PACS No.: 05.45.+b Running title: On--Off Intermittency Submitted to: Phys. Lett. A 1 Introduction As a highly nonlinear phenomenon intermittency is observed in quite different fields of physics. The most famous example is the hydrodynamical intermittency related to the spatial localization of high vorticity, which causes the irregular motion of the velocity field. Based on the bifurcation theory of e...