The Egan problem on the pull-in range of type 2 PLLs

In 1981, famous engineer William F. Egan conjectured that a higher-order type 2 PLL with an infinite hold-in range also has an infinite pull-in range, and supported his conjecture with some third-order PLL implementations. Although it is known that for the second-order type 2 PLLs the hold-in range and the pull-in range are both infinite, the present paper shows that the Egan conjecture may be not valid in general. We provide an implementation of the third-order type 2 PLL, which has an infinite hold-in range and experiences stable oscillations. This implementation and the Egan conjecture naturally pose a problem, which we will call the Egan problem: to determine a class of type 2 PLLs for …

Existence of homoclinic orbits and heteroclinic cycle in a class of three-dimensional piecewise linear systems with three switching manifolds

In this article, we construct a kind of three-dimensional piecewise linear (PWL) system with three switching manifolds and obtain four theorems with regard to the existence of a homoclinic orbit and a heteroclinic cycle in this class of PWL system. The first theorem studies the existence of a heteroclinic cycle connecting two saddle-foci. The existence of a homoclinic orbit connecting one saddle-focus is investigated in the second theorem, and the third theorem examines the existence of a homoclinic orbit connecting another saddle-focus. The last one proves the coexistence of the heteroclinic cycle and two homoclinic orbits for the same parameters. Numerical simulations are given as example…

Stability and oscillation of dynamical systems : theory and applications

Computational Experiments with the Roots of Fibonacci-like Polynomials as a Window to Mathematics Research

Fibonacci-like polynomials, the roots of which are responsible for a cyclic behavior of orbits of a second-order two-parametric difference equation, are considered. Using Maple and Wolfram Alpha, the location of the largest and the smallest roots responsible for the cycles of period p among the roots responsible for the cycles of periods 2kp (period-doubling) and kp (period-multiplying) has been determined. These purely computational results of experimental mathematics, made possible by the use of modern digital tools, can be used as a motivation for confirmation through not-yet-developed methods of formal mathematics. peerReviewed