Some global bifurcations related to the appearance of closed invariant curves

In this paper, we consider a two-dimensional map (a duopoly game) in which the fixed point is destabilized via a subcritical Neimark-Hopf (N-H) bifurcation. Our aim is to investigate, via numerical examples, some global bifurcations associated with the appearance of repelling closed invariant curves involved in the Neimark-Hopf bifurcations. We shall see that the mechanism is not unique, and that it may be related to homoclinic connections of a saddle cycle, that is to a closed invariant curve formed by the merging of a branch of the stable set of the saddle with a branch of the unstable set of the same saddle. This will be shown by analyzing the bifurcations arising inside a periodicity tongue, i.e., a region of the parameter space in which an attracting cycle exists. © 2004 IMACS. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.