Bifurcation of limit cycles from generalized homoclinic loops in planar piecewise smooth systems

The generalized homoclinic loop appears in the study of dynamics on piecewise smooth differential systems during the past two decades. For planar piecewise smooth differential systems, there are concrete examples showing that under suitable perturbations of a generalized homoclinic loop one or two limit cycles can appear. But up to now there is no a general theory to study the cyclicity of a generalized homoclinic loop, that is, the maximal number of limit cycles which are bifurcated from it.     

Bifurcation of limit cycles by perturbing a piecewise linear Hamiltonian system with a homoclinic loop

In this paper, we study limit cycle bifurcations for a kind of non-smooth polynomial differential systems by perturbing a piecewise linear Hamiltonian system with the center at the origin and a homoclinic loop around the origin. By using the first Melnikov function of piecewise near-Hamiltonian systems, we give lower bounds of the maximal number of limit cycles in Hopf and homoclinic bifurcations, and derive an upper bound of the number of limit cycles that bifurcate from the periodic annulus between the center and the homoclinic loop up to the first order in ε$\epsilon$. In the case when the degree of perturbing terms is low, we obtain a precise result on the number of zeros of the first Melnikov function.     

Computation of bifurcation manifolds of linearly independent homoclinic orbits

Regarding the small perturbation as a parameter in an appropriate space of functions, we can discuss co-existence of homoclinic orbits for non-autonomous perturbations of an autonomous system in Rn and describe conditions of parameters for such degenerate homoclinic bifurcations with some bifurcation manifolds of infinite dimension. Since those manifolds determine the relation among parameters for such bifurcations, in this paper we give an algorithm to compute approximately those manifolds and concretely obtain their first order approximates.     

An existence result for homoclinic solutions to a nonlinear second-order ODE through differential inequalities

In this paper an existence result of homoclinic solutions to a nonlinear second-order ODE is presented. To this end, a method based on differential inequalities is used.     

Hopf bifurcation in symmetric configuration of predator-prey-mutualist systems

In this paper we apply the equivariant degree method to study Hopf bifurcations in a system of differential equations describing a symmetric predator-prey-mutualist model with diffusive migration between interacting communities. A topological classification (according to symmetry types), of symmetric Hopf bifurcation in configurations of populations with D₈, D₁₂, A₄ and S₄ symmetries, is presented with estimation on minimal number of bifurcating branches of periodic solutions.     

Simultaneous bifurcation of limit cycles from a linear center with extra singular points

The period annuli of the planar vector field x^′=−yF(x,y)$x^{\prime }=-yF(x,y)$, y^′=xF(x,y)$y^{\prime }=xF(x,y)$, where the set {F(x,y)=0}$\{F(x,y)=0\}$ consists of k   different isolated points, is defined by k+1$k+1$ concentric annuli. In this paper we perturb it with polynomials of degree n and we study how many limit cycles bifurcate, up to a first order analysis, from all the period annuli simultaneously in terms of k and n  . Additionally, we prove that the associated Abelian integral is piecewise rational and, when k=1$k=1$, the provided upper bound is reached. Finally, the case k=2$k=2$ is also treated.     

Inverse Jacobian multipliers and Hopf bifurcation on center manifolds

In this paper we consider a class of higher dimensional differential systems in Rⁿ${\mathbb{R}}^n$ which have a two dimensional center manifold at the origin with a pair of pure imaginary eigenvalues. First we characterize the existence of either analytic or C^∞$C^{\infty }$ inverse Jacobian multipliers of the systems around the origin, which is either a center or a focus on the center manifold. Later we study the cyclicity of the system at the origin through Hopf bifurcation by using the vanishing multiplicity of the inverse Jacobian multiplier.     

On Hopf bifurcation in non-smooth planar systems

As we know, for non-smooth planar systems there are foci of three different types, called focus-focus (FF), focus-parabolic (FP) and parabolic-parabolic (PP) type respectively. The Poincaré map with its analytical property and the problem of Hopf bifurcation have been studied in Coll et al. (2001) [3] and Filippov (1988) [6] for general systems and in Zou et al. (2006) [13] for piecewise linear systems. In this paper we also study the problem of Hopf bifurcation for non-smooth planar systems, obtaining new results. More precisely, we prove that one or two limit cycles can be produced from an elementary focus of the least order (order 1 for foci of FF or FP type and order 2 for foci of PP type) (Theorem 2.3), different from the case of smooth systems. For piecewise linear systems we prove that 2 limit cycles can appear near a focus of either FF, FP or PP type (Theorem 3.3).     

Subharmonic bifurcation from infinity

We are concerned with a subharmonic bifurcation from infinity for scalar higher order ordinary differential equations. The equations contain principal linear parts depending on a scalar parameter, 2π-periodic forcing terms, and continuous nonlinearities with saturation. We suggest sufficient conditions for the existence of subharmonics (i.e., periodic solutions of multiple periods 2πn) with arbitrarily large amplitudes and periods. We prove that this type of the subharmonic bifurcation occurs whenever a pair of simple roots of the characteristic polynomial crosses the imaginary axis at the points ±αi with an irrational α. Under some further assumptions, we estimate asymptotically the parameter intervals, where large subharmonics of periods 2πn exist. These assumptions relate the quality of the Diophantine approximations of α, the rate of convergence of the nonlinearity to its limits at infinity, and the smoothness of the forcing term.     

Nonautonomous bifurcation patterns for one-dimensional differential equations

Although, bifurcation theory of ordinary differential equations with autonomous and periodic time dependence is a major object of research in the study of dynamical systems since decades, the notion of a nonautonomous bifurcation is not yet established. In this article, two different approaches are discussed which are based on special notions of attractivity and repulsivity. Generalizations of the well-known one-dimensional transcritical and pitchfork bifurcation are obtained.     

Maslov index for homoclinic orbits of Hamiltonian systems

A useful tool for studying nonlinear differential equations is index theory. For symplectic paths on bounded intervals, the index theory has been completely established, which revealed tremendous applications in the study of periodic orbits of Hamiltonian systems. Nevertheless, analogous questions concerning homoclinic orbits are still left open. In this paper we use a geometric approach to set up Maslov index for homoclinic orbits of Hamiltonian systems. On the other hand, a relative Morse index for homoclinic orbits will be derived through Fredholm index theory. It will be shown that these two indices coincide.     

New global bifurcation diagrams for piecewise smooth systems: Transversality of homoclinic points does not imply chaos

In this paper we consider some piecewise smooth 2-dimensional systems having a possibly non-smooth homoclinic $\overrightarrow{\gamma }(t)$. We assume that the critical point $\overrightarrow{0}$ lies on the discontinuity surface ${\mathrm{\Omega }}^0$. We consider 4 scenarios which differ for the presence or not of sliding close to $\overrightarrow{0}$ and for the possible presence of a transversal crossing between $\overrightarrow{\gamma }(t)$ and ${\mathrm{\Omega }}^0$. We assume that the systems are subject to a small non-autonomous perturbation, and we obtain 4 new bifurcation diagrams. In particular we show that, in one of these scenarios, the existence of a transversal homoclinic point guarantees the persistence of the homoclinic trajectory but chaos cannot occur. Further we illustrate the presence of new phenomena involving an uncountable number of sliding homoclinics.     

Homoclinic bifurcation with nonhyperbolic equilibria

The problem of homoclinic bifurcation is studied for a high dimensional system with nonhyperbolic equilibria. By constructing local coordinate systems near the unperturbed homoclinic orbit, Poincaré maps for the new system are established. Then the persistence of the homoclinic orbit and the bifurcation of the periodic orbit for the system accompanied with pitchfork bifurcation are obtained. Some known results are extended.     

Small-amplitude limit cycles of some Liénard-type systems

As we know, the Liénard system and its generalized forms are classical and important models of nonlinear oscillators, and have been widely studied by mathematicians and scientists. The main problem considered by most people is the number of limit cycles. In this paper, we investigate two kinds of Liénard systems and obtain the maximal number (i.e. the least upper bound) of limit cycles appearing in Hopf bifurcations by applying some known bifurcation theorems with technical analysis.     

The 16th Hilbert problem on algebraic limit cycles

For real planar polynomial differential systems there appeared a simple version of the 16th Hilbert problem on algebraic limit cycles: Is there an upper bound on the number of algebraic limit cycles of all polynomial vector fields of degree m? In [J. Llibre, R. Ramírez, N. Sadovskaia, On the 16th Hilbert problem for algebraic limit cycles, J. Differential Equations 248 (2010) 1401-1409] Llibre, Ramírez and Sadovskaia solved the problem, providing an exact upper bound, in the case of invariant algebraic curves generic for the vector fields, and they posed the following conjecture: Is1+(m−1)(m−2)/2the maximal number of algebraic limit cycles that a polynomial vector field of degree m can have?In this paper we will prove this conjecture for planar polynomial vector fields having only nodal invariant algebraic curves. This result includes the Llibre et al.?s as a special one. For the polynomial vector fields having only non-dicritical invariant algebraic curves we answer the simple version of the 16th Hilbert problem.     

Periodic and homoclinic solutions generated by impulses for asymptotically linear and sublinear Hamiltonian system

In this paper, we get the existence of periodic and homoclinic solutions for a class of asymptotically linear or sublinear Hamiltonian systems with impulsive conditions via variational methods. However, without impulses, there is no homoclinic or periodic solution for the system considered in this paper. Moreover, our results can be used to study the existence of periodic and homoclinic solutions of difference equations.     

Bifurcations and distribution of limit cycles which appear from two nests of periodic orbits

In this paper, we study the distribution and simultaneous bifurcation of limit cycles bifurcated from the two periodic annuli of the holomorphic differential equation , after a small polynomial perturbation. We first show that, under small perturbations of the form , where is a polynomial of degree 2m−1 in which the power of z is odd and the power of is even, the only possible distribution of limit cycles is (u,u) for all values of u=0,1,2,…,m−3. Hence, the sharp upper bound for the number of limit cycles bifurcated from each two period annuli of is m−3, for m≥4. Then we consider a perturbation of the form , where is a polynomial of degree m in which the power of z is odd and obtain the upper bound m−5, for m≥6. Moreover, we show that the distribution (u,v) of limit cycles is possible for 0≤u≤m−5, 0≤v≤m−5 with u+v≤m−2 and m≥9.