Chaos of time-varying discrete dynamical systems

This paper is concerned with chaos of time-varying (i.e. non-autonomous) discrete systems in metric spaces. Some basic concepts are introduced for general time-varying systems, including periodic point, coupled-expansion for transitive matrix, uniformly topological equiconjugacy, and three definitions of chaos, i.e. chaos in the sense of Devaney and Wiggins, respectively, and in a strong sense of Li-Yorke. An interesting observation is that a finite-dimensional linear time-varying system can be chaotic in the original sense of Li-Yorke, but cannot have chaos in the strong sense of Li-Yorke, nor in the sense of Devaney in a set containing infinitely many points, and nor in the sense of Wiggins in a set starting from which all the orbits are bounded. A criterion of chaos in the original sense of Li-Yorke is established for finite-dimensional linear time-varying systems. Some basic properties of topological conjugacy are discussed. In particular, it is shown that topological conjugacy alone cannot guarantee two topologically conjugate time-varying systems to have the same topological properties in general. In addition, a criterion of chaos induced by strict coupled-expansion for a certain irreducible transitive matrix is established, under which the corresponding nonlinear system is proved chaotic in the strong sense of Li-Yorke. Two illustrative examples are finally provided with computer simulations for illustration. © 2009 Taylor & Francis.