Over the last four decades there has been extensive development in the theory of dynamical systems. This book aims at a wide audience where the first four chapters have been used for an undergraduate course in Dynamical Systems. Material from the last two chapters and from the appendices has been used quite a lot for master and PhD courses. All chapters are concluded by an exercise section. The book is also directed towards researchers, where one of the challenges is to help applied researchers acquire background for a better understanding of the data that computer simulation or experiment may provide them with the development of the theory.

Over the last four decades there has been extensive development in the theory of dynamical systems. This book aims at a wide audience where the first four chapters have been used for an undergraduate course in Dynamical Systems. Material from the last two chapters and from the appendices has been used quite a lot for master and PhD courses. All chapters are concluded by an exercise section. The book is also directed towards researchers, where one of the challenges is to help applied researchers acquire background for a better understanding of the data that computer simulation or experiment may provide them with the development of the theory.

The authors consider applications of singularity theory and computer algebra to bifurcations of Hamiltonian dynamical systems. They restrict themselves to the case were the following simplification is possible. Near the equilibrium or (quasi-) periodic solution under consideration the linear part allows approximation by a normalized Hamiltonian system with a torus symmetry. It is assumed that reduction by this symmetry leads to a system with one degree of freedom. The volume focuses on two such reduction methods, the planar reduction (or polar coordinates) method and the reduction by the energy momentum mapping. The one-degree-of-freedom system then is tackled by singularity theory, where computer algebra, in particular, Gröbner basis techniques, are applied. The readership addressed consists of advanced graduate students and researchers in dynamical systems.

Several optical phenomena can occur when the sun is near the horizon, some of which can actually be seen, for instance as a dark strip in the middle of the solar disk, or as a green flash. These are a result of the way the atmosphere affects the geometry of light rays. In this book, Broer uses the Fermat principle to deduce laws for refraction and reflection. By expressing these as conservation laws, he can handle both the case of inhomogeneous layers of air and the case of continuous variation in the refraction index. Building from this elementary theory, more advanced mathematical theories are discussed, including how the Fermat Principle leads to a Riemannian metric whose geodesics are the paths of light rays, thus demonstrating the physical applicability of Riemannian geometry. Intended for teachers and professors to enlighten their courses, or for students and researchers in mathematics, science and engineering.

In this volume, the authors present a collection of surveys on various aspects of the theory of bifurcations of differentiable dynamical systems and related topics. By selecting these subjects, they focus on those developments from which research will be active in the coming years. The surveys are intended to educate the reader on the recent literature on the following subjects: transversality and generic properties like the various forms of the so-called Kupka-Smale theorem, the Closing Lemma and generic local bifurcations of functions (so-called catastrophe theory) and generic local bifurcations in 1-parameter families of dynamical systems, and notions of structural stability and moduli.