A Parameter-Space of a Chua System with a Smooth Nonlinearity

In this paper we investigate, via numerical simulations, the parameter space of the set of autonomous differential equations of a Chua oscillator, where the piecewise-linear function usually taken to describe the nonlinearity of the Chua diode was replaced by a cubic polynomial. As far as we know, we are the first to report that this parameter-space presents islands of periodicity embedded in a sea of chaos, scenario typically observed only in discrete-time models until recently. We show that these islands are self-similar, and organize themselves in period-adding bifurcation cascades.