Analysing dynamical systems towards computing complete Lyapunov functions

Ordinary differential equations arise in a variety of applications, including e.g. climate systems, and can exhibit complicated dynamical behaviour. Complete Lyapunov functions can capture this behaviour by dividing the phase space into the chain-recurrent set, determining the long-time behaviour, and the transient part, where solutions pass through. In this paper, we present an algorithm to construct complete Lyapunov functions. It is based on mesh-free numerical approximation and uses the failure of convergence in certain areas to determine the chain-recurrent set. The algorithm is applied to three examples and is able to determine attractors and repellers, including periodic orbits and homoclinic orbits.