Uniqueness and non-uniqueness of limit cycles for piecewise linear differential systems with three zones and no symmetry (Q496309)

The authors study Liénard piecewise linear differential systems of the form: \[ \frac{dx}{dt}= F(x)-y, \quad \frac{dy}{dt}= g(x), \] where \[ F(x) = \begin{cases} T_L(x+u)-T_C u\quad & \text{if }x \leq -u, \\ T_C x\quad &\text{if }-u \leq x \leq v,\\ T_R(x-v)+T_C v \quad & \text{if }x \geq v, \end{cases} \] and \[ g(x)=\begin{cases} \ell(x+u)- u \quad & \text{if }x \leq -u, \\ x \quad & \text{if }-u \leq x \leq v, \\ r(x-v)+ v \quad & \text{if }x \geq v, \end{cases} \] with \(x\), \(y\) the real dependent variables, \(t\) is the real independent variable, \(u,v\) are real positive parameters and \(T_L\), \(T_C\), \(T_R\), \(\ell\), \(r\) are real parameters. Note that, in general, this system has three zones of linearity and when, for instance, \(T_L=T_C\) and \(\ell=1\) then it has two zones of linearity. The authors study the existence of limit cycles system. In a first instance, the authors characterize some cases in which the system with only two linearity zones has a unique limit cycle. This first main result (namely Theorems 2 and 3 in the paper) is a generalization of the results obtained in previous works such as \textit{E. Freire} et al. [Int. J. Bifurcation Chaos Appl. Sci. Eng. 12, No. 8, 1675--1702 (2002; Zbl 1051.34032)], the book of the first author and \textit{A. E. Teruel} Introduction to the qualitative theory of differential systems. Planar, symmetric and continuous piecewise linear systems. Basel: Birkhäuser/Springer (2014; Zbl 1286.34001)] and references therein. These previous works are mostly devoted to the symmetric case, that is \(u=v\), \(T_L=T_R\) and \(\ell=r\). In the case of three linearity zones, the authors provide some results (namely Theorems 5--10) which show the existence of one limit cycle and two limit cycles, depending on the value of the parameters. The authors apply their results to the study of a simple electronic oscillator with one memristor.