Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 November 2011
Leading order approximations are given by a patching method for passage through resonance in the case when the resonance zone contains saddle points. The approximations are uniformly valid regardless of the length of time required to pass through the resonance. Accuracy for extended time periods is obtained by asking not for approximate solutions with specified initial values, but for approximate solutions which are “shadowed” by exact solutions in the resonance zone.