Center Manifold

In mathematics, the center manifold of an equilibrium point of a dynamical system consists of orbits whose behavior around the equilibrium point is not controlled by either the attraction of the stable manifold or the repulsion of the unstable manifold. The first step when studying equilibrium points of dynamical systems is to linearize the system. The eigenvectors corresponding to eigenvalues with negative real part form the stable eigenspace, which gives rise to the stable manifold. Similarly, eigenvalues with positive real part yield the unstable manifold.

This concludes the story if the equilibrium point is hyperbolic (i.e., all eigenvalues of the linearization have nonzero real part). However, if there are eigenvalues whose real part is zero, then these give rise to the center manifold. The behavior on the center manifold is generally not determined by the linearization and thus more difficult to study.

Center manifolds play an important role in bifurcation theory because interesting behavior takes place on the center manifold.