Grazing-induced crises in hybrid dynamical systems

In hybrid dynamical systems including both continuous and discrete components, an interplay between a continuous trajectory and a discontinuity boundary can trigger a sudden qualitative change in the system dynamics. Grazing phenomena, which occur when a continuous trajectory hits a boundary tangentially, are well known as a representative of such phenomena. We demonstrate that a grazing phenomenon of a chaotic attractor can result in its sudden disappearance and initiate chaotic transients. The mechanism of this grazing-induced crisis is revealed in an illustrative example. Furthermore, we derive a formula to obtain the critical exponent of the power law on the mean duration of chaotic transients.