Putting a boundary to the space of Liénard equations (Q2372741): Difference between revisions

The paper is devoted to the problem of finiteness of the upper bound \(L(n)\) for the number of limit cycles inside the Liénard family \[ \mathcal{L}_{a}^{n}\left\{\begin{matrix} \dot{x}=y- F_{a}^{n}(x)\\ \dot{y}=-x.\end{matrix} \right. \] where \(a=(a_{1},\ldots , a_{2n})\) and \(F_{a}^{n}(x)\) is the polynomial family \[ F_{a}^{n}(x)=\sum_{i=1}^{2n}a_{i}x^{i}+x^{2n+1}. \] The author considers the case of compact parameter region \(K\). The purpose of the paper is to show that this problem can be reduced to another one concerning slow-fast equations appearing as singular limits of the Liénard equations for large values of the parameters. Then the existence of a global bound \(L(n)\) can be related to the finiteness of the number of limit cycles which bifurcate from slow-fast cycles of these singular equations. But the conclusion of the paper concerning the conjecture of Lins Neto, de Melo and Pugh is contrary to the recent paper [\textit{F. Dumortier, D. Panazzolo}, and \textit{R. Roussarie}, ``More limit cycles than expected in Liénard equations.'' Proc. Am. Math. Soc. 135, No.~6, 1895--1904 (2007; Zbl 1130.34018)]