Attractors of the periodically forced Rayleigh system

The autonomous second order nonlinear ordinary differential equation(ODE) introduced in 1883 by Lord Rayleigh, is the equation whichappears to be the closest to the ODE of the harmonic oscillator withdumping.In this paper we present a numerical study of the periodic andchaotic attractors in the dynamical system associated with the generalized Rayleigh equation. Transition between periodic and quasiperiodic motion is also studied. Numerical results describe the system dynamics changes (in particular bifurcations), when the forcing frequency is varied and thus, periodic, quasiperiodic or chaotic behaviour regions are predicted.