Spectral taxonomy for quartic systems: fundamental clock, parity, and continuum

A symmetric quartic potential is a physics motif with incredibly expansive applications, ranging from broadband energy harvesters, quantum tunneling in molecules and the early universe, to torque-free spacecraft rotation.

For nearly two centuries, its rich dynamics have been classified into regimes and expressed as disjointed time-domain solutions.

Here we build a taxonomy for this broad class of motions and discover that their regimes exhibit a universal spectral structure: they share a fundamental clock, obey parity selection, and dissolve into the separatrix through a discrete-to-continuum transition.

Applied to the famous Dzhanibekov effect where a rotating body (e.g., a spacecraft) periodically undergoes rapid 180-degree flips in its attitude, the taxonomy reveals its spectral anatomy.

The three principal-axis rotations share a common clock while occupying distinct parity channels, with stable-axis branches exchanging DC bias across the separatrix.

This converts the torque-free tumbling from a purely time-domain crisis into a frequency-domain design opportunity.

By presenting the exact spectral solutions and their taxonomy, we offer a new frequency-aware framework by which physical systems can be characterized, designed, and controlled.

We discuss a case study where the three spectral pillars: clock, parity, and continuum, survive the Wick rotation from real-time into imaginary-time kinematics.

The persistent characteristics also invite the possibility that the universal spectral structure encompasses an entire class of major physics motifs -- a possible canonical behavior in conservative 1D dynamics.