Hénon Map & Bifurcation

About: The Hénon map (1976) is one of the simplest systems exhibiting a strange attractor — a fractal set of dimension ≈ 1.26 with sensitive dependence on initial conditions. At the classic parameters (a=1.4, b=0.3) nearby trajectories diverge exponentially (Lyapunov exponent λ≈0.42), yet remain bounded. The bifurcation diagram shows how the x-attractor evolves as a varies: period-1 → period-2 → period-4 cascade following Feigenbaum's universal ratio δ≈4.669, then chaos.