A perturbation method for computing the simplest normal forms of dynamical systems

A previously developed perturbation method is generalized for computing the simplest normal form (at each level of computation, the minimum number of terms are retained) of general n-dimensional differential equations. This "direct" approach, combining the normal form theory with center manifold theory in one unified procedure, can be used to systematically compute the simplest (or unique) normal form. Two particular singularities of the Jacobian of the system are considered in this paper: the first one is associated with one pair of purely imaginary eigenvalues (Hopf-type singularity), and the other corresponds to a simple zero and a pair of purely imaginary eigenvalues (Hopf-zero-type singularity). The approach can be easily formulated and implemented using a computer algebra system. Maple programs have been developed in this paper which can be "automatically" executed by a user without the knowledge of computer algebra. A physical oscillator model is studied in detail to show the computational efficiency of the "direct" method, and the advantage of using the simplest normal form, which greatly simplifies the analysis on dynamical systems, in particular, for bifurcations and stability. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.