On sufficient conditions for certain two-dimensional systems to have at most two limit cycles (Q1319935)

Sufficient conditions are given under which the two-dimensional system (1) \(dx/dt= P(x,y)\), \(dy/dt= Q(x,y)\) has at most one, two or three limit cycles. It is assumed that the origin (0,0) is a singular point of (1). By letting \(x= r\cos \theta\), \(y= r\sin \theta\), equation (1) becomes (2) \(dr/dt= R(r,\theta)\), \({d\theta/dt}= S(r,\theta)\), where \(R(r,\theta)=\cos \theta P(r\cos \theta, r\sin\theta)+ \sin\theta Q(r,\cos\theta, r\sin \theta)\), \(S(r,\theta)= (\cos \theta Q(r\cos \theta, r\sin \theta)- \sin \theta P(r,\cos \theta,r\sin \theta))/r\). The main results of the paper are the following. Theorem 1. Let \(D\) be an annulus with its inner boundary surrounding the origin. Suppose the functions \(P\) and \(Q\) are of class \(C^ 2\) on \(D\) and for each fixed \(\theta\) the function \(S\) has at most one zero root on \(D\) with respect to \(r\) (multiplicities taken into account). (a) If there exists a differentiable function \(h(r)> 0\) on \(D\) such that \((\partial/\partial r)(hR/S)\) does not change sign and is not zero for \((r,\theta)\in D\) and \(\theta= \theta_ 0\) for some \(\theta_ 0\), then (1) has at most one limit cycle on \(D\) which surrounds the origin and is oriented clockwise. (b) If \((\partial^ 2/\partial r^ 2)(R/(rS))\) does not change sign and is not zero for \((r,\theta)\in D\) and \(\theta= \theta_ 0\) for some \(\theta_ 0\), then (1) has at most two limit cycles on \(D\) which surround the origin and are oriented clockwise. Theorem 2. Let \(D\) be an annulus with its inner boundary surrounding the origin. Suppose system (1) is of class \(C^ 2\) on \(D\) and satisfies (i) for each fixed \(\theta\), \(S(r,\theta)\) has at most one zero root with respect to \(r\) (multiplicities taken into account), (ii) the function \((\partial/\partial r)((P_ x(r\cos \theta, r\sin \theta)+ Q_ y(r\cos \theta,r\sin \theta))/S)\) does not change sign and is not zero for \((r,\theta)\in D\) and \(\theta= \theta_ 0\) for some \(\theta_ 0\). Then (1) has at most three limit cycles on \(D\) around the origin which have the same orientation, and if three limit cycles occur the middle one is semi-stable and the other two are hyperbolic.