The positive fixed point of has periodic-orbit multiplier . At , and the periodic-orbit multiplier crosses . Factoring the second-iterate fixed-point equation gives
The second factor yields a two-cycle
It exists for and has periodic-orbit multiplier . Its stability range is , so undergoes a supercritical period-doubling bifurcation at . At the two-cycle is and its periodic-orbit multiplier is zero, making it superstable.
For positive and , direct composition gives the local second iterate
The one-sided limits at zero are opposite, and agree with zero exactly when in this neighborhood. There is continuous at zero and fixes it. Thus the local return branch has the same discontinuity-closing transition as the map in part (a), with effective parameter crossing zero.
Figure 1.
Local second-iterate Lorenz return maps near zero, showing the discontinuity close and reverse at parameter one
. Details.
For , both are positive and the period transfer from a quadratic map to its Lorenz sign lift gives the two stable cycles
For , and , so the periodic-orbit multiplier of the cycle is negative and the lifted orbit is
It is one stable four-cycle. Hence the gluing of cycles in an iterated Lorenz map gives
Equivalently, changes from two small stable fixed points to a stable small two-cycle . At the critical value itself, the actual convention gives , , : the surviving critical two-cycle is , and is preperiodic. This critical itinerary must be evaluated directly, not with part (b)'s noncritical sign product.
There is also a precise qualification to the printed use of “continuous”. The whole second iterate is not continuous everywhere at : , while and . Jumps persist at the nonzero preimages of the original discontinuity. Therefore the stated global-bifurcation criterion holds for the return map restricted to a neighborhood of zero, as in the sketches; if continuity on all of is demanded literally, the claim about needs that restriction. The orbit creation and destruction above is unaffected.