RECURRENCE TIME IN THE HOMOCLINIC TANGLE

We find the minimum recurrence time for the lobes of an unstable perio dic orbit (i.e. the number of iterations required in order that an ima ge of a given lobe intersects itself). This time is much shorter than the usual recurrence time derived by applying Poincare's theorem. As t he energy of the system increases the minimum recurrence time decrease s. The minimum recurrence time can be found also when the energy excee ds the escape energy, in which case the usual Poincare recurrence time is not defined.