Asymptotically isochronous systems

Abstract

Mechanisms are elucidated underlying the existence of dynamical systems whose generic solutions approach asymptotically (at large time) isochronous evolutions: all their dependent variables tend asymptotic ally to functions periodic with the sa m e fixed period. We focus on two such mechanisms, emphasizing their generality and illustrating each of them via a representative example. The first example belongs to a recently discovered class of integrable indeed solvable many-body problems. The second example consists of a broad class of (generally nonintegrable) models obtained by deforming appropriately the well-known (integrable and isochronous) many-body problem with inverse-cube two-body forces and a one-body linear ("harmonic oscillator") force.