HOPF BIFURCATION FROM LINES OF EQUILIBRIA WITHOUT PARAMETERS IN MEMRISTOR OSCILLATORS

The memristor is supposed to be the fourth fundamental electronic element in addition to the well-known resistor, inductor and capacitor. Named as a contraction for memory resistor, its theoretical existence was postulated in 1971 by L. O. Chua, based on symmetrical and logical properties observed in some electronic circuits. On the other hand its physical realization was announced only recently in a paper published on May 2008 issue of Nature by a research team from Hewlett–Packard Company. In this work, we present the bifurcation analysis of two memristor oscillators mathematical models, given by three-dimensional five-parameter piecewise-linear and cubic systems of ordinary differential equations. We show that depending on the parameter values, the systems may present the coexistence of both infinitely many stable periodic orbits and stable equilibrium points. The periodic orbits arise from the change in local stability of equilibrium points on a line of equilibria, for a fixed set of parameter values. This phenomenon is a kind of Hopf bifurcation without parameters. We have numerical evidences that such stable periodic orbits form an invariant surface, which is an attractor of the systems solutions. The results obtained imply that even for a fixed set of parameters the two systems studied may or may not present oscillations, depending on the initial condition considered in the phase space. Moreover, when they exist, the amplitude of the oscillations also depends on the initial conditions.