Analytic approximation of the Lorenz attractor by invariant manifolds

Abstract
The strange attractor of the Lorenz model is found to be well approximated by suitably chosen two-dimensional invariant manifolds through the three stationary points of the flow in phase space. The stationary probability density, defined by the two-dimensional flow on the invariant manifolds, is determined in the vicinity of the origin of the phase space in terms of two parameters and compared with the numerically determined stationary distribution on the Lorenz attractor.