Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2010
It has been observed that the famous Feigenbaum–Coullet–Tresser period-doubling universality has a counterpart for area-preserving maps of ℝ2. A renormalization approach has been used in a computer-assisted proof of existence of an area-preserving map with orbits of all binary periods in Eckmann et al [Existence of a fixed point of the doubling transformation for area-preserving maps of the plane. Phys. Rev. A 26(1) (1982), 720–722; A computer-assisted proof of universality for area-preserving maps. Mem. Amer. Math. Soc. 47 (1984), 1–121]. As is the case with all non-trivial universality problems in non-dissipative systems in dimensions more than one, no analytic proof of this period-doubling universality exists to date. We argue that the period-doubling renormalization fixed point for area-preserving maps is almost one dimensional, in the sense that it is close to the following Hénon-like (after a coordinate change) map: where ϕ solves We then give a ‘proof’ of existence of solutions of small analytic perturbations of this one-dimensional problem, and describe some of the properties of this solution. The ‘proof’ consists of an analytic argument for factorized inverse branches of ϕ together with verification of several inequalities and inclusions of subsets of ℂ numerically. Finally, we suggest an analytic approach to the full period-doubling problem for area-preserving maps based on its proximity to the one-dimensional case. In this respect, the paper is an exploration of possible analytic machinery for a non-trivial renormalization problem in a conservative two-dimensional system.