Although, bifurcation theory of equations with autonomous and periodic time dependence is a major object of research in the study of dynamical systems since decades, the notion of a nonautonomous bifurcation is not yet established. In this book, two different approaches are developed which are based on special definitions of local attractivity and repulsivity. It is shown that these notions lead to nonautonomous Morse decompositions.

The goal of this book is to provide an approach to the corresponding geometric theory of nonautonomous discrete dynamical systems in infinite-dimensional spaces by virtue of 2-parameter semigroups (processes).

The theory of nonautonomous dynamical systems in both of its formulations as processes and skew product flows is developed systematically in this book. The focus is on dissipative systems and nonautonomous attractors, in particular the recently introduced concept of pullback attractors. Linearization theory, invariant manifolds, Lyapunov functions, Morse decompositions and bifurcations for nonautonomous systems and set-valued generalizations are also considered as well as applications to numerical approximations, switching systems and synchronization. Parallels with corresponding theories of control and random dynamical systems are briefly sketched. With its clear and systematic exposition, many examples and exercises, as well as its interesting applications, this book can serve as a text at the beginning graduate level. It is also useful for those who wish to begin their own independent research in this rapidly developing area.

Nonautonomous dynamics describes the qualitative behavior of evolutionary differential and difference equations, whose right-hand side is explicitly time dependent. Over recent years, the theory of such systems has developed into a highly active field related to, yet recognizably distinct from that of classical autonomous dynamical systems. This development was motivated by problems of applied mathematics, in particular in the life sciences where genuinely nonautonomous systems abound. The purpose of this monograph is to indicate through selected, representative examples how often nonautonomous systems occur in the life sciences and to outline the new concepts and tools from the theory of nonautonomous dynamical systems that are now available for their investigation.

The book treats the theory of attractors for non-autonomous dynamical systems. The aim of the book is to give a coherent account of the current state of the theory, using the framework of processes to impose the minimum of restrictions on the nature of the non-autonomous dependence. The book is intended as an up-to-date summary of the field, but much of it will be accessible to beginning graduate students. Clear indications will be given as to which material is fundamental and which is more advanced, so that those new to the area can quickly obtain an overview, while those already involved can pursue the topics we cover more deeply.

This book focuses on bifurcation theory for autonomous and nonautonomous differential equations with discontinuities of different types – those with jumps present either in the right-hand side, or in trajectories or in the arguments of solutions of equations. The results obtained can be applied to various fields, such as neural networks, brain dynamics, mechanical systems, weather phenomena and population dynamics. Developing bifurcation theory for various types of differential equations, the book is pioneering in the field. It presents the latest results and provides a practical guide to applying the theory to differential equations with various types of discontinuity. Moreover, it offers new ways to analyze nonautonomous bifurcation scenarios in these equations. As such, it shows undergraduate and graduate students how bifurcation theory can be developed not only for discrete and continuous systems, but also for those that combine these systems in very different ways. At the same time, it offers specialists several powerful instruments developed for the theory of discontinuous dynamical systems with variable moments of impact, differential equations with piecewise constant arguments of generalized type and Filippov systems.

This volume contains the notes from five lecture courses devoted to nonautonomous differential systems, in which appropriate topological and dynamical techniques were described and applied to a variety of problems. The courses took place during the C.I.M.E. Session "Stability and Bifurcation Problems for Non-Autonomous Differential Equations," held in Cetraro, Italy, June 19-25 2011. Anna Capietto and Jean Mawhin lectured on nonlinear boundary value problems; they applied the Maslov index and degree-theoretic methods in this context. Rafael Ortega discussed the theory of twist maps with nonperiodic phase and presented applications. Peter Kloeden and Sylvia Novo showed how dynamical methods can be used to study the stability/bifurcation properties of bounded solutions and of attracting sets for nonautonomous differential and functional-differential equations. The volume will be of interest to all researchers working in these and related fields.

This monograph presents the most recent progress in bifurcation theory of impulsive dynamical systems with time delays and other functional dependence. It covers not only smooth local bifurcations, but also some non-smooth bifurcation phenomena that are unique to impulsive dynamical systems. The monograph is split into four distinct parts, independently addressing both finite and infinite-dimensional dynamical systems before discussing their applications. The primary contributions are a rigorous nonautonomous dynamical systems framework and analysis of nonlinear systems, stability, and invariant manifold theory. Special attention is paid to the centre manifold and associated reduction principle, as these are essential to the local bifurcation theory. Specifying to periodic systems, the Floquet theory is extended to impulsive functional differential equations, and this permits an exploration of the impulsive analogues of saddle-node, transcritical, pitchfork and Hopf bifurcations. Readers will learn how techniques of classical bifurcation theory extend to impulsive functional differential equations and, as a special case, impulsive differential equations without delays. They will learn about stability for fixed points, periodic orbits and complete bounded trajectories, and how the linearization of the dynamical system allows for a suitable definition of hyperbolicity. They will see how to complete a centre manifold reduction and analyze a bifurcation at a nonhyperbolic steady state.

Bifurcation theory is a major topic in dynamical systems theory with profound applications. However, in contrast to autonomous dynamical systems, it is not clear what a bifurcation of a nonautonomous dynamical system actually is, and so far, various different approaches to describe qualitative changes have been suggested in the literature. The aim of this book is to provide a concise survey of the area and equip the reader with suitable tools to tackle nonautonomous problems. A review, discussion and comparison of several concepts of bifurcation is provided, and these are formulated in a unified notation and illustrated by means of comprehensible examples. Additionally, certain relevant tools needed in a corresponding analysis are presented.

Although, bifurcation theory of equations with autonomous and periodic time dependence is a major object of research in the study of dynamical systems since decades, the notion of a nonautonomous bifurcation is not yet established. In this book, two different approaches are developed which are based on special definitions of local attractivity and repulsivity. It is shown that these notions lead to nonautonomous Morse decompositions.