We study chaotic systems with multiple time delays that range over several orders of magnitude. We show that the spectrum of Lyapunov exponents (LE) in such systems possesses a hierarchical structure, with different parts scaling with the different d
elays. This leads to different types of chaos, depending on the scaling of the maximal LE. Our results are relevant, in particular, for the synchronization properties of hierarchical networks (networks of networks) where the nodes of subnetworks are coupled with shorter delays and couplings between different subnetworks are realized with longer delay times. Units within a subnetwork can synchronize if the maximal exponent scales with the shorter delay, long range synchronization between different subnetworks is only possible if the maximal exponent scales with the long delay. The results are illustrated analytically for Bernoulli maps and numerically for tent maps.
The scaling behavior of the maximal Lyapunov exponent in chaotic systems with time-delayed feedback is investigated. For large delay times it has been shown that the delay-dependence of the exponent allows a distinction between strong and weak chaos,
which are the analogy to strong and weak instability of periodic orbits in a delay system. We find significant differences between scaling of exponents in periodic or chaotic systems. We show that chaotic scaling is related to fluctuations in the linearized equations of motion. A linear delay system including multiplicative noise shows the same properties as the deterministic chaotic systems.
