Experimental demonstration of subtleties in subharmonic intermittency

Experiments on the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction in a well-stirred flow reactor elucidate one of the routes to chaos, subharmonic intermittency (type III interminency). Measurements conducted as a function of two independent control parameters demonstrate how difficult it is in practice to distinguish this route to chaos from subcritical period doubling transitions with similar chaotic time signatures. Necessary criteria for the establishment of a second order (continuous) transition, such as the absence of hysteresis, are discussed in the context of one-dimensional maps.