Homoclinic Theorems for piecewise smooth vector fields

Abstract

In this paper we provide extensions of the Birkhoff-Smale Homoclinic Theorem and the $\hat{I}»$-Lemma for piecewise smooth vector fields free of sliding motion. We prove that if the vector field is $T$-periodic in its independent variable and has a transverse homoclinic point, then its time-$T$-map is conjugated with a Bernoulli Shift and thus the vector field is chaotic. The Bernoulli Shifts considered here may have any finite number of symbols, or countably infinite many.