Symmetry-breaking analysis for the general Helmholtz–Duffing oscillator

The symmetry breaking phenomenon for a general Helmholtz–Duffing oscillator as a function of a symmetric parameter in the nonlinear force is investigated. Different values of this parameter convert the general oscillator into either the Helmholtz or the Duffing oscillator. Due to the variation of the symmetric parameter, the phase space patterns of the unperturbed Helmholtz–Duffing oscillator will cause a huge difference between the left-hand homoclinic orbit and the right-hand one. In particular, the area of the left-hand homoclinic orbits is a strictly monotonously decreasing function, while the area of the right-hand homoclinic orbit varies only in a very small range. There exist distinct local supercritical and subcritical saddle-node bifurcations at two different centers. The left-hand and the right-hand existing regions of the harmonic solutions of the Helmholtz–Duffing oscillator created by the left-hand and the right-hand saddle-node bifurcation curves will lead to different transition in the amplitude–frequency plane. There exists also a critical frequency which has the effect that the left-hand homoclinic bifurcation value is equal to the right-hand homoclinic bifurcation value. And, if the amplitude coefficient of the Helmholtz–Duffing oscillator is used as the control parameter, and it is larger than the same left-hand and right-hand homoclinic bifurcation, then the global stability of the system will be destroyed at a lowest cost. Besides this critical frequency, the left-hand and the right-hand homoclinic bifurcations are not only unequal, but also their effects for the system’s stability are different. Among them, the effect resulting from the small homoclinic bifurcation for the system’s stability is local and negligible, while the effect from the large homoclinic bifurcation is global but this is accomplished at a quite larger cost.