In this article, we explore the bifurcation problem of limit cycles near the double eight figure loop (compound cycle with a 2-polycycle connecting two homoclinic loops). A general theory is established to find the lower bound of the maximal number of limit cycles (isolated periodic orbits) near the double eight figure loop. The Liénard system, a well-known nonlinear dynamical model, appears in a natural way in physics, chemistry, engineering, and so on, where periodic phenomena play a relevant role. As an application, we investigate an $(n+1)$th-order generalized Liénard system and prove the system has at least $7[\frac{n}{6}]+2[\frac{r}{2}]-[\frac{r}{4}]$ limit cycles near the double eight figure loop for any $n\geq5$ and $r=\rm mod(n,6)$, and their distribution is also gained.

Analytic rotated vector fields have four significant properties: as the rotated parameter $\alpha$ changes, the amplitude of each stable (or unstable) limit cycle varies monotonically, each semi-stable limit cycle bifurcates at most two limit cycles, the isolated homoclinic loop (if exists) disappears while a unique limit cycle with the same stability arises or no closed orbits arise oppositely, and a unique limit cycle arises near the weak focus (if exists). In this paper, we prove that the four properties remain true for a rotated family of generalized Liénard systems having finitely many switching lines. Furthermore, we discuss variational exponent and use it to formulate multiplicity of limit cycles. Then we apply our results to give exact number of limit cycles to a continuous piecewise linear system with three zones and answer to a question on the maximum number of limit cycles in an SD oscillator.

We work with polynomial three-dimensional rigid differential systems. Using the Lyapunov constants, we obtain lower bounds for the cyclicity of the known rigid centres on their centre manifolds. Moreover, we obtain an example of a quadratic rigid centre from which is possible to bifurcate 13 limit cycles, which is a new lower bound for three-dimensional quadratic systems.

In this paper, we study the quadratic perturbations of a one-parameter family of reversible quadratic systems whose first integral contains the logarithmic function. By the criterion function for determining the lowest upper bound of the number of zeros of Abelian integrals, we obtain that the cyclicity of either period annulus is two. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first result for the cyclicity of period annulus of the one-parameter family of reversible quadratic systems whose first integral contains the logarithmic function. Moreover, the simultaneous bifurcation and distribution of limit cycles from two-period annuli are considered.

In 1991, Chicone and Jacobs showed the equivalence between the computation of the first-order Taylor developments of the Lyapunov constants and the developments of the first Melnikov function near a non-degenerate monodromic equilibrium point, in the study of limit cycles of small-amplitude bifurcating from a quadratic centre. We show that their proof is also valid for polynomial vector fields of any degree. This equivalence is used to provide a new lower bound for the local cyclicity of degree six polynomial vector fields, so $\mathcal {M}(6) \geq 44$. Moreover, we extend this equivalence to the piecewise polynomial class. Finally, we prove that $\mathcal {M}^{c}_{p}(4) \geq 43$ and $\mathcal {M}^{c}_{p}(5) \geq 65.$

In this paper we consider the unfolding of saddle-node

\[ X= \frac{1}{xU_a(x,y)}\Big(x(x^{\mu}-\varepsilon)\partial_x-V_a(x)y\partial_y\Big), \]

$(\varepsilon,\,a)$

$\varepsilon \approx 0$

$a$

$A$

$ {\mathbb {R}}^{\alpha },$

$\mathcal {T}(s;\varepsilon,\,a)$

$\partial _s\mathcal {T}(s;\varepsilon,\,a)$

$-\infty$

$(s,\,\varepsilon )\to (0^{+},\,0)$

$A.$

We prove that perturbing the periodic annulus of the reversible quadratic polynomial differential system $\dot x=y+ax^2$, $\dot y=-x$ with a ≠ 0 inside the class of all quadratic polynomial differential systems we can obtain at most two limit cycles, including their multiplicities. Since the first integral of the unperturbed system contains an exponential function, the traditional methods cannot be applied, except in Figuerasa, Tucker and Villadelprat (2013, J. Diff. Equ., 254, 3647–3663) a computer-assisted method was used. In this paper, we provide a method for studying the problem. This is also the first purely mathematical proof of the conjecture formulated by Dumortier and Roussarie (2009, Discrete Contin. Dyn. Syst., 2, 723–781) for q ⩽ 2. The method may be used in other problems.

In 1958 started the study of the families of algebraic limit cycles in the class of planar quadratic polynomial differential systems. In the present we known one family of algebraic limit cycles of degree 2 and four families of algebraic limit cycles of degree 4, and that there are no limit cycles of degree 3. All the families of algebraic limit cycles of degree 2 and 4 are known, this is not the case for the families of degree higher than 4. We also know that there exist two families of algebraic limit cycles of degree 5 and one family of degree 6, but we do not know if these families are all the families of degree 5 and 6. Until today it is an open problem to know if there are algebraic limit cycles of degree higher than 6 inside the class of quadratic polynomial differential systems. Here we investigate the birth and death of all the known families of algebraic limit cycles of quadratic polynomial differential systems.

We present the complete classification of irreducible invariant algebraic curves of quadratic Liénard differential equations. We prove that these equations have irreducible invariant algebraic curves of unbounded degrees, in contrast with what is wrongly claimed in the literature. In addition, we classify all the quadratic Liénard differential equations that admit a Liouvillian first integral.

We study the number of limit cycles bifurcating from the origin of a Hamiltonian system of degree 4. We prove, using the averaging theory of order 7, that there are quartic polynomial systems close these Hamiltonian systems having 3 limit cycles.

This paper introduces an algebro-geometric setting for the space of bifurcation functions involved in the local Hilbert’s 16th problem on a period annulus. Each possible bifurcation function is in one-to-one correspondence with a point in the exceptional divisor E of the canonical blow-up BI ℂn of the Bautin ideal I. In this setting, the notion of essential perturbation, first proposed by Iliev, is defined via irreducible components of the Nash space of arcs Arc(BI ℂn, E). The example of planar quadratic vector fields in the Kapteyn normal form is further discussed.

We investigate the bifurcation of limit cycles in one-parameter unfoldings of quadractic differential systems in the plane having a degenerate critical point at infinity. It is shown that there are three types of quadratic systems possessing an elliptic critical point which bifurcates from infinity together with eventual limit cycles around it. We establish that these limit cycles can be studied by performing a degenerate transformation which brings the system to a small perturbation of certain well-known reversible systems having a center. The corresponding displacement function is then expanded in a Puiseux series with respect to the small parameter and its coefficients are expressed in terms of Abelian integrals. Finally, we investigate in more detail four of the cases, among them the elliptic case (Bogdanov-Takens system) and the isochronous center ${{\mathcal{S}}_{3}}$ . We show that in each of these cases the corresponding vector space of bifurcation functions has the Chebishev property: the number of the zeros of each function is less than the dimension of the vector space. To prove this we construct the bifurcation diagram of zeros of certain Abelian integrals in a complex domain.