We demonstrate that dual entropy expressions of the Tsallis type apply naturally to statistical-mechanical systems that experience an exceptional contraction of their configuration space. The entropic index [Formula: see text] describes the contraction process, while the dual index [Formula: see text] defines the contraction dimension at which extensivity is restored. We study this circumstance along the three routes to chaos in low-dimensional nonlinear maps where the attractors at the transitions, between regular and chaotic behavior, drive phase-space contraction for ensembles of trajectories. We illustrate this circumstance for properties of systems that find descriptions in terms of nonlinear maps. These are size-rank functions, urbanization and similar processes, and settings where frequency locking takes place.
Keywords: Nonlinear dynamical systems; Nonlinear physics; Physics; Statistical physics.