Controlling escape from a potential well by reshaping periodic secondary excitations

Ratchet universality in the bidirectional escape from a symmetric potential well

The present work discusses symmetry-breaking-induced bidirectional escape from a symmetric metastable potential well by the application of zero-average periodic forces in the presence of dissipation. We characterized the interplay between heteroclinic instabilities leading to chaotic escape and breaking of a generalized parity symmetry leading to directed ratchet escape to an attractor either at ∞ or at -∞. Optimal enhancement of directed ratchet escape is found to occur when the wave form of the zero-average periodic force acting on the damped driven oscillator matches as closely as possible to a universal wave form, as predicted by the theory of ratchet universality. Specifically, the optimal approximation to the universal force triggers the almost complete destruction of the nonescaping basin for driving amplitudes which are systematically lower than those corresponding to a symmetric periodic force having the same period. We expect that this work could be potentially useful in the control of elementary dynamic processes characterized by multidirectional escape from a potential well, such as forced chaotic scattering and laser-induced dissociation of molecular systems, among others.

Horizons of cybernetical physics

The subject and main areas of a new research field-cybernetical physics-are discussed. A brief history of cybernetical physics is outlined. The main areas of activity in cybernetical physics are briefly surveyed, such as control of oscillatory and chaotic behaviour, control of resonance and synchronization, control in thermodynamics, control of distributed systems and networks, quantum control.This article is part of the themed issue 'Horizons of cybernetical physics'.

Impulse-induced optimum control of escape from a metastable state by periodic secondary excitations

We characterize the role of the impulse transmitted (time integral over a half-period) by resonant secondary excitations at controlling (suppressing and enhancing) escape from a potential well, which is induced by periodic primary excitations. By using the universal model of a dissipative Helmholtz oscillator, we demonstrate numerically that optimum control of escape occurs when the impulse transmitted by the chaos-controlling excitations is maximum while keeping their amplitude and period fixed. These findings are in complete agreement with analytical predictions from two independent methods: Melnikov analysis and energy-based analysis. Additional numerical results corresponding to other alternative escape-controlling excitations demonstrate the generality of the essential role of the excitation's impulse.