Desingularization Theory and Bifurcation of Non-elementary Limit Periodic Sets

In the study of the Bogdanov-Takens unfolding, we introduced in 4.3.5.2 the following formulas of rescaling in the phase-space and in the parameter space: $$ x = {r^2}\bar x,y = {r^3}\bar y,\mu = - {r^4},\nu = {r^2}\bar \nu . $$

More limit cycles than expected in Liénard equations

The paper deals with classical polynomial Lienard equations, i.e. planar vector fields associated to scalar second order differential equations x"+ f(x)x' + x = 0 where f is a polynomial. We prove that for a well-chosen polynomial f of degree 6, the equation exhibits 4 limit cycles. It induces that for n ≥ 3 there exist polynomials f of degree 2n such that the related equations exhibit more than n limit cycles. This contradicts the conjecture of Lins, de Melo and Pugh stating that for Lienard equations as above, with f of degree 2n, the maximum number of limit cycles is n. The limit cycles that we found are relaxation oscillations which appear in slow-fast systems at the boundary of classic…

Corrigendum to “Multi-layer canard cycles and translated power functions” [J. Differential Equations 244 (2008) 1329–1358]

Generic 3-parameter families of vector fields on the plane, unfolding a singularity with nilpotent linear part. The cusp case of codimension 3

AbstractA cusp type germ of vector fields is a C∞ germ at 0∈ℝ2, whose 2-jet is C∞ conjugate toWe define a submanifold of codimension 5 in the space of germs consisting of germs of cusp type whose 4-jet is C0 equivalent toOur main result can be stated as follows: any local 3-parameter family in (0, 0) ∈ ℝ2 × ℝ3 cutting transversally in (0, 0) is fibre-C0 equivalent to

Existence of a traveling wave solution in a free interface problem with fractional order kinetics

Abstract In this paper we consider a system of two reaction-diffusion equations that models diffusional-thermal combustion with stepwise ignition-temperature kinetics and fractional reaction order 0 α 1 . We turn the free interface problem into a scalar free boundary problem coupled with an integral equation. The main intermediary step is to reduce the scalar problem to the study of a non-Lipschitz vector field in dimension 2. The latter is treated by qualitative topological methods based on the Poincare-Bendixson Theorem. The phase portrait is determined and the existence of a stable manifold at the origin is proved. A significant result is that the settling time to reach the origin is fin…

Abelian integrals and limit cycles

Abstract The paper deals with generic perturbations from a Hamiltonian planar vector field and more precisely with the number and bifurcation pattern of the limit cycles. In this paper we show that near a 2-saddle cycle, the number of limit cycles produced in unfoldings with one unbroken connection, can exceed the number of zeros of the related Abelian integral, even if the latter represents a stable elementary catastrophe. We however also show that in general, finite codimension of the Abelian integral leads to a finite upper bound on the local cyclicity. In the treatment, we introduce the notion of simple asymptotic scale deformation.

Bifurcations of Regular Limit Periodic Sets

In this chapter, (X λ ) will be a smooth or analytic (in Section 3) family of vector fields on a phase space S, with parameter λ ∈ P, as in Chapter 1. Periodic orbits and elliptic singular points which are limits of sequences of limit cycles are called regular limit periodic sets. The reason for this terminology is that for such a limit periodic set Γ one can define local return maps on transversal segments, which are as smooth as the family itself. The limit cycles near Γ will be given by a smooth equation and the theory of bifurcations of limit cycles from Γ will reduce to the theory of unfoldings of differentiable functions. In fact, we will just need the Preparation Theorem and not the …

Bifurcations of Elementary Graphics

After the regular limit periodic sets, the simplest limit periodic sets are the elementary graphics.

Finite cyclicity of some center graphics through a nilpotent point inside quadratic systems

In this paper we introduce new methods to prove the finite cyclicity of some graphics through a triple nilpotent point of saddle or elliptic type surrounding a center. After applying a blow-up of the family, yielding a singular 3-dimensional foliation, this amounts to proving the finite cyclicity of a family of limit periodic sets of the foliation. The boundary limit periodic sets of these families were the most challenging, but the new methods are quite general for treating such graphics. We apply these techniques to prove the finite cyclicity of the graphic $(I_{14}^1)$, which is part of the program started in 1994 by Dumortier, Roussarie and Rousseau (and called DRR program) to show that…

Geometric Singular Perturbation Theory Beyond Normal Hyperbolicity

Geometric Singular Perturbation theory has traditionally dealt only with perturbation problems near normally hyperbolic manifolds of singularities. In this paper we want to show how blow up techniques can permit enlarging the applicability to non-normally hyperbolic points. We will present the method on well chosen examples in the plane and in 3-space.

Bifurcations of planar vector fields

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Techniques in the Theory of Local Bifurcations: Cyclicity and Desingularization

A fundamental open question of the bifurcation theory of vector fields in dimension 2 is whether the number of locally bifurcating limit cycles in an analytic unfolding is bounded, or more precisely, whether any limit periodic set has finite cyclicity. In these notes we introduce several techniques for attacking this question: asymptotic expansion of return maps, ideal of coefficients, desingularization of parametrized families. Moreover, because of their practical interest, we present some partial results obtained by these techniques.

On the saddle loop bifurcation

It is shown that the set of C∞ (generic) saddle loop bifurcations has a unique modulus of stability γ ≥]0, 1[∪]1, ∞[ for (C0, Cr)-equivalence, with 1≤r≤∞. We mean for an equivalence (x,μ) ↦ (h(x,μ), ϕ(μ)) with h continuous and ϕ of class Cr. The modulus γ is the ratio of hyperbolicity at the saddle point of the connection. Already asking ϕ to be a lipeomorphism forces two saddle loop bifurcations to have the same modulus, while two such bifurcations with the same modulus are (C0,±Identity)-equivalent.

Alien limit cycles near a Hamiltonian 2-saddle cycle

Abstract It is known that perturbations from a Hamiltonian 2-saddle cycle Γ can produce limit cycles that are not covered by the Abelian integral, even when it is generic. These limit cycles are called alien limit cycles. This phenomenon cannot appear in the case that Γ is a periodic orbit, a non-degenerate singularity, or a saddle loop. In this Note, we present a way to study this phenomenon in a particular unfolding of a Hamiltonian 2-saddle cycle, keeping one connection unbroken at the bifurcation. To cite this article: M. Caubergh et al., C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 340 (2005).

A method of desingularization for analytic two-dimensional vector field families

It is well known that isolated singularities of two dimensional analytic vector fields can be desingularized: after a finite number of blowing up operations we obtain a vector field that exhibits only elementary singularities. In the present paper we introduce a similar method to simplify the periodic limit sets of analytic families of vector fields. Although the method is applied here only to reduce to families in which the zero set has codimension at least two, we conjecture that it can be used in general. This is related to the famouss Hibert's problem about planar vector fields.

A poincar�-bendixson theorem for analytic families of vector fields

We provide a characterization of the limit periodic sets for analytic families of vector fields under the hypothesis that the first jet is non-vanishing at any singular point. Also, applying the family desingularization method, we reduce the complexity of some of these sets.

Bifurcations of cuspidal loops

A cuspidal loop for a planar vector field X consists of a homoclinic orbit through a singular point p, at which X has a nilpotent cusp. This is the simplest non-elementary singular cycle (or graphic) in the sense that its singularities are not elementary (i.e. hyperbolic or semihyperbolic). Cuspidal loops appear persistently in three-parameter families of planar vector fields. The bifurcation diagrams of unfoldings of cuspidal loops are studied here under mild genericity hypotheses: the singular point p is of Bogdanov - Takens type and the derivative of the first return map along the orbit is different from 1. An analytic and geometric method based on the blowing up for unfoldings is propos…

Limit Periodic Sets

As explained at the end of the previous chapter, the most difficult problem in the study of bifurcations in a family of vector fields on a surface of genus 0 is the control of the periodic orbits. In fact, in generic smooth families the periodic orbits will be isolated for each value of the parameter. For analytic families we have two possibilities for each orbit: it may be isolated or belong to a whole annulus of periodic orbits. In this last case and for the parameter values for which the system has infinitely many periodic orbits, the vector field has a local analytic first integral and the nearby vector fields in the family may be studied by the perturbation theory introduced in Chapter…

Perturbations of the classical Lotka-Volterra system by behavioral sequences

The complexity and the variability of parameters occurring in ecological dynamical systems imply a large number of equations.

Cyclicity of common slow–fast cycles

Abstract We study the limit cycles of planar slow–fast vector fields, appearing near a given slow–fast cycle, formed by an arbitrary sequence of slow parts and fast parts, and where the slow parts can meet the fast parts in a nilpotent contact point of arbitrary order. Using the notion slow divergence integral, we delimit a large subclass of these slow–fast cycles out of which at most one limit cycle can perturb, and a smaller subclass out of which exactly one limit cycle will perturb. Though the focus lies on common slow–fast cycles, i.e. cycles with only attracting or only repelling slow parts, we present results that are valid for more general slow–fast cycles. We also provide examples o…

Canard-cycle transition at a fast–fast passage through a jump point

Abstract We consider transitory canard cycles that consist of a generic breaking mechanism, i.e. a Hopf or a jump breaking mechanism, in combination with a fast–fast passage through a jump point. Such cycle separates two types of canard cycles with a different shape. We obtain upper bounds on the number of periodic orbits that can appear near the canard cycle, and this under very general conditions.

Analysis of a slow–fast system near a cusp singularity

This paper studies a slow fast system whose principal characteristic is that the slow manifold is given by the critical set of the cusp catastrophe. Our analysis consists of two main parts: first, we recall a formal normal form suitable for systems as the one studied here; afterwards, taking advantage of this normal form, we investigate the transition near the cusp singularity by means of the blow up technique. Our contribution relies heavily in the usage of normal form theory, allowing us to refine previous results. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Melnikov functions and Bautin ideal

The computation of the number of limit cycles which appear in an analytic unfolding of planar vector fields is related to the decomposition of the displacement function of this unfolding in an ideal of functions in the parameter space, called the Ideal of Bautin. On the other hand, the asymptotic of the displacement function, for 1-parameter unfoldings of hamiltonian vector fields is given by Melnikov functions which are defined as the coefficients of Taylor expansion in the parameter. It is interesting to compare these two notions and to study if the general estimations of the number of limit cycles in terms of the Bautin ideal could be reduced to the computations of Melnikov functions for…

A TOPOLOGICAL STUDY OF PLANAR VECTOR FIELD SINGULARITIES A tribute to Ivar Bendixson

In this paper one extends results of Bendixson [B] and Dumortier [D] about the germs of vector fields with an isolated singularity at the origin of IR 2 , not accumulated by periodic orbits. As new tool, one introduces minimal curves, which are curves surrounding the origin, with a minimal number of contact points with the vector field. Moreover, the arguments are essentially topological, with no use of a desingularization theory, as it is the case in [D]. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification : 34C05, 34A26.

The 0-Parameter Case

As an introduction to the theory of bifurcations, in this chapter we want to consider individual vector fields, i.e., families of vector fields with a 0-dimensional parameter space. We will present two fundamentals tools: the desingularization and the asymptotic expansion of the return map along a limit periodic set. In the particular case of an individual vector field these techniques give the desired final result: the desingularization theorem says that any algebraically isolated singular point may be reduced to a finite number of elementary singularities by a finite sequence of blow-ups. If X is an analytic vector field on S 2, then the return map of any elementary graphic has an isolate…

The cyclicity of the elliptic segment loops of the reversible quadratic Hamiltonian systems under quadratic perturbations

Abstract Denote by Q H and Q R the Hamiltonian class and reversible class of quadratic integrable systems. There are several topological types for systems belong to Q H ∩ Q R . One of them is the case that the corresponding system has two heteroclinic loops, sharing one saddle-connection, which is a line segment, and the other part of the loops is an ellipse. In this paper we prove that the maximal number of limit cycles, which bifurcate from the loops with respect to quadratic perturbations in a conic neighborhood of the direction transversal to reversible systems (called in reversible direction), is two. We also give the corresponding bifurcation diagram.

Canard Cycles with Three Breaking Mechanisms

This article deals with relaxation oscillations from a generic balanced canard cycle \(\Gamma\) subject to three breaking parameters of Hopf or jump type. We prove that in a rescaled layer of \(\Gamma\) there bifurcate at most five relaxation oscillations.

On the geometric structure of the class of planar quadratic differential systems

In this work we are interested in the global theory of planar quadratic differential systems and more precisely in the geometry of this whole class. We want to clarify some results and methods such as the isocline method or the role of rotation parameters. To this end, we recall how to associate a pencil of isoclines to each quadratic differential equation. We discuss the parameterization of the space of regular pencils of isoclines by the space of its multiple base points and the equivariant action of the affine group on the fibration of the space of regular quadratic differential equations over the space of regular pencils of isoclines. This fibration is principal, with a projective group…

Quasi-conformal mapping theorem and bifurcations

LetH be a germ of holomorphic diffeomorphism at 0 ∈ ℂ. Using the existence theorem for quasi-conformal mappings, it is possible to prove that there exists a multivalued germS at 0, such thatS(ze 2πi )=H○S(z) (1). IfH λ is an unfolding of diffeomorphisms depending on λ ∈ (ℂ,0), withH 0=Id, one introduces its ideal $$\mathcal{I}_H$$ . It is the ideal generated by the germs of coefficients (a i (λ), 0) at 0 ∈ ℂ k , whereH λ(z)−z=Σa i (λ)z i . Then one can find a parameter solutionS λ (z) of (1) which has at each pointz 0 belonging to the domain of definition ofS 0, an expansion in seriesS λ(z)=z+Σb i (λ)(z−z 0) i with $$(b_i ,0) \in \mathcal{I}_H$$ , for alli. This result may be applied to the…

Some Applications of the Poincaré-Bendixson Theorem

We consider a C 1 vector field X defined on an open subset U of the plane, with compact closure. If X has no singular points and if U is simply connected, a weak version of the Poincaré-Bendixson Theorem says that the limit sets of X in U are empty but that one can defined non empty extended limit sets contained into the boundary of U. We give an elementary proof of this result, independent of the classical Poincaré-Bendixson Theorem. A trapping triangle T based at p, for a C 1 vector field X defined on an open subset U of the plane, is a topological triangle with a corner at a point p located on the boundary ∂U and a good control of the tranversality of X along the sides. The principal app…

Almost Planar Homoclinic Loops in R3

AbstractIn this paper we study homoclinic loops of vector fields in 3-dimensional space when the two principal eigenvalues are real of opposite sign, which we call almost planar. We are interested to have a theory for higher codimension bifurcations. Almost planar homoclinic loop bifurcations generically occur in two versions “non-twisted” and “twisted” loops. We consider high codimension homoclinic loop bifurcations under generic conditions. The generic condition forces the existence of a 2-dimensional topological invariant ring (non necessarily unique), which is a topological cylinder in the “non-twisted” case and a topological Möbius band in the “twisted” case. If the third eigenvalue is…

On the number of limit cycles which appear by perturbation of separatrix loop of planar vector fields

Consider a fami ly of vector fCelds x~ on the plane. This fami ly depends on a parameter ~ ~ /R A, for some A ~ /~, and is supposed to be 0 ~ in (m,~) 6 /i~ 2X /~A. Suppose that for ~ = O, the vector f i e l d X o has a separatrix loop. This means that X o has an hyperbol ic saddle point s o and that one of the stable separatr ix of 8 o coincides with one of the unstable one. The union of th is curve and s o is the loop ?. A return map is defined on one side of r .

Multi-layer canard cycles and translated power functions

Abstract The paper deals with two-dimensional slow-fast systems and more specifically with multi-layer canard cycles. These are canard cycles passing through n layers of fast orbits, with n ⩾ 2 . The canard cycles are subject to n generic breaking mechanisms and we study the limit cycles that can be perturbed from the generic canard cycles of codimension n . We prove that this study can be reduced to the investigation of the fixed points of iterated translated power functions.

Perturbations of symmetric elliptic Hamiltonians of degree four

AbstractIn this paper four-parameter unfoldings Xλ of symmetric elliptic Hamiltonians of degree four are studied. We prove that in a compact region of the period annulus of X0 the displacement function of Xλ is sign equivalent to its principal part, which is given by a family induced by a Chebychev system; and we describe the bifurcation diagram of Xλ in a full neighborhood of the origin in the parameter space, where at most two limit cycles can exist for the corresponding systems.

Invariant circles in the Bogdanov-Takens bifurcation for diffeomorphisms

AbstractWe study a generic, real analytic unfolding of a planar diffeomorphism having a fixed point with unipotent linear part. In the analogue for vector fields an open parameter domain is known to exist, with a unique limit cycle. This domain is bounded by curves corresponding to a Hopf bifurcation and to a homoclinic connection. In the present case of analytic diffeomorphisms, a similar domain is shown to exist, with a normally hyperbolic invariant circle. It follows that all the ‘interesting’ dynamics, concerning the destruction of the invariant circle and the transition to trivial dynamics by the creation and death of homoclinic points, takes place in an exponentially small part of the…

Complex ecological models with simple dynamics: From individuals to populations

The aim of this work is to study complex ecological models exhibiting simple dynamics. We consider large scale systems which can be decomposed into weakly coupled subsystems. Perturbation Theory is used in order to get a reduced set of differential equations governing slow time varying global variables. As examples, we study the influence of the individual behaviour of animals in competition and predator-prey models. The animals are assumed to do many activities all day long such as searching for food of different types. The degree of competition as well as the predation pressure are dependent upon these activities. Preys are more vulnerable when doing some activities during which they are …

Families of Two-dimensional Vector Fields

In this section we will consider individual vector fields. They can be considered as 0-parameter families. We assume these vector fields to be of class at least C 1. This will be sufficient to ensure the existence and uniqueness of the flow φ(t, x) (t is time, x ∈ S, the phase space) and the qualitative properties which we mention below.

Multiple Canard Cycles in Generalized Liénard Equations

AbstractThe paper treats multiple limit cycle bifurcations in singular perturbation problems of planar vector fields. The results deal with any number of parameters. Proofs are based on the techniques introduced in “Canard Cycles and Center Manifolds” (F. Dumortier and R. Roussarie, 1996, Mem. Amer. Math. Soc., 121). The presentation is limited to generalized Liénard equations εx+α(x, c)x+β(x, c)=0.