A geometric singular perturbation theory approach to constrained differential equations

This paper is concerned with a geometric study of ()‐parameter families of constrained differential systems, where . Our main results say that the dynamics of such a family close to the impasse set is equivalent to the dynamics of a multiple time scale singular perturbation problem (that is a singularly perturbed system containing several small parameters). This enables us to use a geometric theory for multiscale systems in order to describe the behaviour of such a family close to the impasse set. We think that a systematic program towards a combination between geometric singular perturbation theory and constrained systems and problems involving persistence of typical minimal sets are currently emergent. Some illustrations and applications of the main results are provided.