Relative periodic solutions are ubiquitous in dynamical systems with continuous symmetry. Recently, Sandstede, Scheel and Wulff derived a center bundle theorem, reducing local bifurcation from relative periodic solutions to a finite-dimensional problem. Independently, Lamb and Melbourne showed how to systematically study local bifurcation from isolated periodic solutions with discrete spatiotemporal symmetries.

In this paper, we show how the center bundle theorem, when combined with certain group theoretic results, reduces bifurcation from relative periodic solutions to bifurcation from isolated periodic solutions. In this way, we obtain a systematic approach to the study of local bifurcation from relative periodic solutions.