Fast-slow dynamical systems

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It is commonplace in nature that complex systems behave according to the interaction of different elements, which evolve with different scales in space and time. For instance: in statistical mechanics one can easily separate the timescale of molecular interaction by the timescale of macroscopic interaction. In celestial mechanics, different type of motions evolve according to dramatically different timescales. In biology, the lifespan of a cell might be several order of magnitude smaller than the lifespan of the organism it constitutes; and, similarly, life or death of a single individual has little impact on the evolution of the species that that individual belongs to.******Yet, when one wants to model such systems as a dynamical system, the complexity arising by the presence of several timescales generates enormously difficult aspects which have for a long time prevented a complete and comprehensive understanding of the dynamics of such systems.******The simplest possible case of a multi-scale system is when there are only two different scales to be considered. A very ingenious idea to study such systems is to assume the fast system to evolve so rapidly that it reaches some sorts of equilibrium before the slow system has a chance to evolve. The slow system will therefore be affected by the averaged behavior of the fast system, which under some natural assumptions can be fairly well understood. This idea has been implemented in the setting of chaotic dynamics in the so-called Averaging Theory.******In my proposed research program, building from some recent important results in Averaging Theory that my coauthors and I have obtained in the last couple of years, I would like to explore such systems to a very deep level. This would allow to understand to a great extent how chaotic properties arise and behave in this framework.