This book discusses many of the common scaling properties observed in some nonlinear dynamical systems mostly described by mappings. The unpredictability of the time evolution of two nearby initial conditions in the phase space together with the exponential divergence from each other as time goes by lead to the concept of chaos. Some of the observables in nonlinear systems exhibit characteristics of scaling invariance being then described via scaling laws. From the variation of control parameters, physical observables in the phase space may be characterized by using power laws that many times yield into universal behavior. The application of such a formalism has been well accepted in the scientific community of nonlinear dynamics. Therefore I had in mind when writing this book was to bring together few of the research results in nonlinear systems using scaling formalism that could treated either in under-graduation as well as in the post graduation in the several exact programs but no earlier requirements were needed from the students unless the basic physics and mathematics. At the same time, the book must be original enough to contribute to the existing literature but with no excessive superposition of the topics already dealt with in other text books. The majority of the Chapters present a list of exercises. Some of them are analytic and others are numeric with few presenting some degree of computational complexity.

This book discusses some scaling properties and characterizes two-phase transitions for chaotic dynamics in nonlinear systems described by mappings. The chaotic dynamics is determined by the unpredictability of the time evolution of two very close initial conditions in the phase space. It yields in an exponential divergence from each other as time passes. The chaotic diffusion is investigated, leading to a scaling invariance, a characteristic of a continuous phase transition. Two different types of transitions are considered in the book. One of them considers a transition from integrability to non-integrability observed in a two-dimensional, nonlinear, and area-preserving mapping, hence a conservative dynamics, in the variables action and angle. The other transition considers too the dynamics given by the use of nonlinear mappings and describes a suppression of the unlimited chaotic diffusion for a dissipative standard mapping and an equivalent transition in the suppression of Fermi acceleration in time-dependent billiards. This book allows the readers to understand some of the applicability of scaling theory to phase transitions and other critical dynamics commonly observed in nonlinear systems. That includes a transition from integrability to non-integrability and a transition from limited to unlimited diffusion, and that may also be applied to diffusion in energy, hence in Fermi acceleration. The latter is a hot topic investigated in billiard dynamics that led to many important publications in the last few years. It is a good reference book for senior- or graduate-level students or researchers in dynamical systems and control engineering, mathematics, physics, mechanical and electrical engineering.

This book discusses many of the common scaling properties observed in some nonlinear dynamical systems mostly described by mappings. The unpredictability of the time evolution of two nearby initial conditions in the phase space together with the exponential divergence from each other as time goes by lead to the concept of chaos. Some of the observables in nonlinear systems exhibit characteristics of scaling invariance being then described via scaling laws. From the variation of control parameters, physical observables in the phase space may be characterized by using power laws that many times yield into universal behavior. The application of such a formalism has been well accepted in the scientific community of nonlinear dynamics. Therefore I had in mind when writing this book was to bring together few of the research results in nonlinear systems using scaling formalism that could treated either in under-graduation as well as in the post graduation in the several exact programs but no earlier requirements were needed from the students unless the basic physics and mathematics. At the same time, the book must be original enough to contribute to the existing literature but with no excessive superposition of the topics already dealt with in other text books. The majority of the Chapters present a list of exercises. Some of them are analytic and others are numeric with few presenting some degree of computational complexity.