Hopf bifurcation and stability of periodic solutions for van der Pol equation with time delay

In this paper, the van der Pol equation with a time delay is considered, where the time delay is regarded as a parameter. It is found that Hopf bifurcation occurs when this delay passes through a sequence of critical value. A formula for determining the direction of the Hopf bifurcation and the stability of bifurcating periodic solutions is given by using the normal form method and center manifold theorem.