Cubic vector fields symmetric with respect to a center (Q1904827)

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First the authors give a new proof of the integrability of cubic symmetric systems with respect to a center at the origin by the method of Darboux, which uses invariant algebraic curves. The first integrals of the systems are all elementary and their complete list is given in the paper. Then the authors study the global geometry of such systems, and give the bifurcation diagram of the phase portraits of the vector fields. Such systems consist of three different types. This paper considers the non-Hamiltonian vector fields, i.e., type II and type III. The authors show that although most bifurcations correspond to bifurcations of the algebraic invariant curves, unlike what happens in the quadratic case, the changes in the invariant algebraic curves do not completely determine the bifurcation diagram. They prove the existence of other bifurcations of saddle connections with transcendental equations.