Sketching 1D Stable Manifolds of 2D Maps Without the Inverse

Abstract

Saddle fixed points are the centerpieces of complicated dynamics in a system. The one-dimensional stable and unstable manifolds of these saddle-points are crucial to understanding the dynamics of such systems. While the problem of sketching the unstable manifold is simple, plotting the stable manifold is not as easy. Several algorithms exist to compute the stable manifold of saddle-points, but they have their limitations, especially when the system is not invertible. In this paper, we present a new algorithm to compute the stable manifold of two-dimensional systems which can also be used for noninvertible systems. After outlining the logic of the algorithm, we demonstrate the output of the algorithm on several examples.