The evolution of chaotic dynamics for fractional unified system

Based on reliable numerical approach, this Letter studies the chaotic behavior of the fractional unified system. The lowest orders for this system to have a complete chaotic attractor (the attractor covers the three equilibrium points of the classical unified system) at different parameter values are obtained. A striking finding is that with the increase of the parameter alpha of the fractional unified system from 0 to 1, the lowest order for this system to have a complete chaotic attractor monotonically decreases from 2.97 to 2.07. Because of the inherent attribute (memory effects) of fractional derivatives, this finding reveals that the chaotic behavior of fractional (classical) unified system becomes stronger and stronger when a increases from 0 to 1. Furthermore, this Letter introduces a novel measure to characterize the chaos intensity of fractional (classical) differential system. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.