The Lorenz system: the largest Lyapunov exponent across ρ

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The Lorenz system across ρ

$\dot x = \sigma(y-x)$, $\dot y = x(\rho - z) - y$, $\dot z = xy - \beta z$ with $\sigma = 10$ and $\beta = 8/3$. The largest Lyapunov exponent $\lambda_1$ comes from one trajectory per $\rho$ after a warm-up, through DynamicalModels.lyapunov_exponent. Where $\lambda_1 > 0$ nearby trajectories separate: the system is chaotic. The textbook onset for these $\sigma, \beta$ is near $\rho \approx 24.74$.

Sec. 1. Largest Lyapunov exponent (1)

sweep_fig1 ⤓ download
Fig. 1. λ₁ against ρ; the dashed line is λ₁ = 0
ρλ₁verdict
14.0-0.3948not chaotic
16.0-0.3077not chaotic
18.0-0.228not chaotic
20.0-0.1546not chaotic
22.0-0.0864not chaotic
24.00.7628chaotic
24.740.8073chaotic
26.00.8568chaotic
28.00.9029chaotic
30.00.951chaotic
35.01.0449chaotic
40.01.1314chaotic
one trajectory per ρ