Deals with limit cycles of general plane stationary systems, including their existence, nonexistence, stability, and uniqueness. This book also discusses the global topological structure of limit cycles and phase-portraits of quadratic systems.

This textbook contains the lecture series originally delivered at the "Advanced Course on Limit Cycles of Differential Equations" in the Centre de Rechercha Mathematica Barcelona in 2006. It covers the center-focus problem for polynomial vector fields and the application of abelian integrals to limit cycle bifurcations. Both topics are related to the authors' interests in Hilbert's sixteenth problem, but would also be of interest to those working more generally in the qualitative theory of dynamical systems.

Dynamical system theory has developed rapidly over the past fifty years. It is a subject upon which the theory of limit cycles has a significant impact for both theoretical advances and practical solutions to problems. Hopf bifurcation from a center or a focus is integral to the theory of bifurcation of limit cycles, for which normal form theory is a central tool. Although Hopf bifurcation has been studied for more than half a century, and normal form theory for over 100 years, efficient computation in this area is still a challenge with implications for Hilbert’s 16th problem. This book introduces the most recent developments in this field and provides major advances in fundamental theory of limit cycles. Split into two parts, the first focuses on the study of limit cycles bifurcating from Hopf singularity using normal form theory with later application to Hilbert’s 16th problem, while the second considers near Hamiltonian systems using Melnikov function as the main mathematical tool. Classic topics with new results are presented in a clear and concise manner and are accompanied by the liberal use of illustrations throughout. Containing a wealth of examples and structured algorithms that are treated in detail, a good balance between theoretical and applied topics is demonstrated. By including complete Maple programs within the text, this book also enables the reader to reconstruct the majority of formulas provided, facilitating the use of concrete models for study. Through the adoption of an elementary and practical approach, this book will be of use to graduate mathematics students wishing to study the theory of limit cycles as well as scientists, across a number of disciplines, with an interest in the applications of periodic behavior.

This book presents a coherent framework for understanding the dynamics of piecewise-smooth and hybrid systems. An informal introduction expounds the ubiquity of such models via numerous. The results are presented in an informal style, and illustrated with many examples. The book is aimed at a wide audience of applied mathematicians, engineers and scientists at the beginning postgraduate level. Almost no mathematical background is assumed other than basic calculus and algebra.

This textbook is aimed at newcomers to nonlinear dynamics and chaos, especially students taking a first course in the subject. The presentation stresses analytical methods, concrete examples, and geometric intuition. The theory is developed systematically, starting with first-order differential equations and their bifurcations, followed by phase plane analysis, limit cycles and their bifurcations, and culminating with the Lorenz equations, chaos, iterated maps, period doubling, renormalization, fractals, and strange attractors.

This book is devoted to the following finiteness theorem: A polynomial vector field on the real plane has a finite number of limit cycles. To prove the theorem, it suffices to note that limit cycles cannot accumulate on a polycycle of an analytic vector field. This approach necessitates investigation of the monodromy transformation (also known as the Poincare return mapping or the first return mapping) corresponding to this cycle. To carry out this investigation, this book utilizes five sources: The theory of Dulac, use of the complex domain, resolution of singularities, the geometric theory of normal forms, and superexact asymptotic series. In the introduction, the author presents results about this problem that were known up to the writing of the present book, with full proofs (except in the case of the results in the local theory and theorems on resolution of singularities).

This book deals with systems of polynomial autonomous ordinary differential equations in two real variables. The emphasis is mainly qualitative, although attention is also given to more algebraic aspects as a thorough study of the center/focus problem and recent results on integrability. In the last two chapters the performant software tool P4 is introduced. From the start, differential systems are represented by vector fields enabling, in full strength, a dynamical systems approach. All essential notions, including invariant manifolds, normal forms, desingularization of singularities, index theory and limit cycles, are introduced and the main results are proved for smooth systems with the necessary specifications for analytic and polynomial systems.