Hamiltonian system

A dynamical system on a symplectic manifold whose vector field is generated by a Hamiltonian. In canonical variables it obeys Hamilton's equations.

The Hénon-Heiles system is a Hamiltonian system with two degrees of freedom and Hamiltonian functionIts Hamilton's equations give $\ddot{x}=-x-2xy$ and $\ddot{y}=-y-x^2+y^2$. Its potential energy combines an isotropic quadratic minimum with a cubic interaction.

The potential energy $V(x,y)=\frac{1}{2}(x^2+y^2)+x^{2}y-y^3/3$ in the Hénon-Heiles system has the following expression in polar coordinates:so it is invariant under rotation through $2\pi /3$. Solving $\nabla V=0$ gives a strict local minimum at the origin and three saddle points, at $(0,1)$ and $(\pm \sqrt{3}/2,-1/2)$. All three saddle points have value $1/6$. Their common level set factors exactly:Thus this level set is the union of the three lines $y=-1/2$ and $y=1\pm \sqrt{3}x$. They bound an equilateral triangle containing the local minimum. The Hessian matrix is the identity at the origin; at each of the other three stationary points it has eigenvalues $3$ and $-1$. For energies $0\le E<1/6$, the central accessible region is bounded; above that value the three saddle passages allow paths from the centre to arbitrarily large radius. This follows directly from the radial potential: in each direction with $\sin (3\theta )<0$, its radial maximum occurs at $r=-1/\sin (3\theta )$, with value $1/[6{\sin }^2(3\theta )]\ge 1/6$.

The autonomous planar system $\dot{x}=y-2y^3$, $\dot{y}=-x$ preserves $K$. Its origin is a center equilibrium and $(0,\pm 1/\sqrt{2})$ are saddle equilibria. The level $K=1/4$ is $x=\pm (y^2-1/2)$: its two inner arcs are heteroclinic orbits enclosing periodic motion, while its outer branches connect saddles to escaping trajectories. Since $|\dot{y}|\sim y^2$ on escaping levels, infinity is reached in finite time. Adding $\alpha x/2$ to $\dot{x}$ gives $\dot{K}=\alpha x^2$, so positive $\alpha$ produces outward crossing of central levels and breaks the equal-energy heteroclinic connections.