Lyapunov time

In mathematics, the Lyapunov time is the characteristic timescale on which a dynamical system is chaotic.
It is named after the Russian mathematician Aleksandr Lyapunov. It is defined as the inverse of a system's
largest Lyapunov exponent.[1]

Use
The Lyapunov time mirrors the limits of the predictability of the system. By convention, it is defined as the
time for the distance between nearby trajectories of the system to increase by a factor of e. However,
measures in terms of 2-foldings and 10-foldings are sometimes found, since they correspond to the loss of
one bit of information or one digit of precision respectively.[2][3]

While it is used in many applications of dynamical systems theory, it has been particularly used in celestial
mechanics where it is important for the problem of the stability of the Solar System. However, empirical
estimation of the Lyapunov time is often associated with computational or inherent uncertainties.[4][5]

Examples
Typical values are:[2]

System Lyapunov time

Solar System 5 million years

Pluto's orbit 20 million years

Obliquity of Mars 1–5 million years

Orbit of 36 Atalante 4,000 years

Rotation of Hyperion 36 days

Chemical chaotic oscillations 5.4 minutes

Hydrodynamic chaotic oscillations 2 seconds

1 cm3 of argon at room temperature 3.7×10−11 seconds

1 cm3 of argon at triple point (84 K, 69 kPa) 3.7×10−16 seconds

See also
Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction
Molecular chaos
Three-body problem

References
1. Bezruchko, Boris P.; Smirnov, Dmitry A. (5 September 2010). Extracting Knowledge from
Time Series: An Introduction to Nonlinear Empirical Modeling (https://books.google.com/boo
 ks?id=li6JDAEACAAJ). Springer. pp. 56–57. ISBN 9783642126000.
2. Pierre Gaspard, Chaos, Scattering and Statistical Mechanics, Cambridge University Press,
2005. p. 7
3. Friedland, G.; Metere, A. (2018). "Isomorphism between Maximum Lyapunov Exponent and
Shannon's Channel Capacity". arXiv:1706.08638 (https://arxiv.org/abs/1706.08638).
4. Tancredi, G.; Sánchez, A.; Roig, F. (2001). "A Comparison Between Methods to Compute
Lyapunov Exponents" (https://doi.org/10.1086%2F318732). The Astronomical Journal. 121
(2): 1171–1179. Bibcode:2001AJ....121.1171T (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001AJ....
121.1171T). doi:10.1086/318732 (https://doi.org/10.1086%2F318732).
5. Gerlach, E. (2009). "On the Numerical Computability of Asteroidal Lyapunov Times".
arXiv:0901.4871 (https://arxiv.org/abs/0901.4871).

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