The number of limit cycles by perturbing a piecewise linear system with three zones (Q2136189)

Let \(n\) be a positive integer, \(x_1>x_2>\cdots>x_n\). In this paper, the authors consider the following planar piecewise smooth system defined in \(n+1\) zones separated by \(n\) straight lines \(x=x_i\) for \(1\leq i \leq n\): \begin{align*} \dot{x}&=H_{0y}(x, y)+\varepsilon p_0(x, y), \qquad \dot{y}=-H_{0x}(x, y)+\varepsilon q_0(x, y)\quad \text{for } x>x_1,\\ \dot{x}&=H_{ky}(x, y)+\varepsilon p_k(x, y), \qquad \dot{y}=-H_{kx}(x, y)+\varepsilon q_k(x, y)\quad \text{for } x_{k+1}<x\leq x_{k},\\ \dot{x}&=H_{ny}(x, y)+\varepsilon p_n(x, y), \qquad \dot{y}=-H_{nx}(x, y)+\varepsilon q_n(x, y)\quad \text{for } x\leq x_{n}, \end{align*} where \(1\leq k \leq n-1\), \(H_{j}(x, y)\), \(p_{j}(x, y)\) and \(q_{j}(x, y)\) are \(C^{\infty}\) functions in \((x, y)\in \mathbb{R}^2\) for \(0\leq j \leq n\), \(\varepsilon>0\) is a small parameter. Under the assumption that the unperturbed system (i. e. when \(\varepsilon=0\)) has a period annulus \(\mathcal{A}\) consists of a one-parameter family of clockwise periodic orbits which intersects each of the switching line transversally exactly two times, the authors present a new proof of the expression of the generalized first-order Melnikov function for \(\mathcal{A}\). Then for the special case of \(n=2\), they study the number of limit cycles by perturbing a piecewise linear Hamiltonian system with polynomials of degree \(m\). By computing the number of simple zeros of the Melnikov function, they prove that \(2m+3\left[\frac{m+1}{2}\right]\) limit cycles bifurcate from the generalized double homoclinic loop for \(\varepsilon>0\) small enough.