Basic Properties
If the system is conservative (i.e. there is no dissipation), a volume element of the phase space will stay the same along a trajectory. Thus the sum of all Lyapunov exponents must be zero. If the system is dissipative, the sum of Lyapunov exponents is negative.
If the system is a flow and the trajectory does not converge to a single point, one exponent is always zero—the Lyapunov exponent corresponding to the eigenvalue of with an eigenvector in the direction of the flow.
Read more about this topic: Lyapunov Exponent
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