The role of the saddle-foci on the structure of a Bykov attracting set

Abstract

We consider a one-parameter family $(f_λ)_{λ\, \geqslant \, 0}$ of symmetric vector fields on the three-dimensional sphere $\mathbb{S}^3\subset\mathbb{R}^4$ whose flows exhibit a heteroclinic network between two saddle-foci inside a global attracting set. More precisely, when $λ= 0$, there is an attracting heteroclinic cycle between the two equilibria which is made of two $1$-dimensional connections together with a $2$-dimensional sphere which is both the stable manifold of one saddle-focus and the unstable manifold of the other. After slightly increasing the parameter while keeping the $1$-dimensional connections unaltered, the two-dimensional invariant manifolds of the equilibria become transversal, and thereby create homoclinic and heteroclinic tangles. It is known that these newborn structures are the source of a countable union of topological horseshoes, which prompt the coexistence of infinitely many sinks and saddle-type invariant sets for many values of $λ$. We show that, for every small enough positive parameter $λ$, the stable and unstable manifolds of the equilibria and those infinitely many horseshoes are contained in the global attracting set of $f_λ$. Moreover, we prove that the horseshoes belong to the heteroclinic class of the equilibria. In addition, we verify that the set of chain-accessible points from either of the saddle-foci is chain-stable and contains the closure of the invariant manifolds of the two equilibria.