Existence of periodic orbits for planar differential systems with delay angle (Q2161468)

The paper applies Mawhin's continuation theorem to study the existence of periodic orbits of the planar differential system with delay angle of the form \[ \begin{cases} \dot{x}=P(x(\theta-h),y(\theta-h)),\\ \dot{y}=Q(x(\theta-h),y(\theta-h)), \end{cases}\tag{2.1} \] where the dot denotes the derivative with respect to \(t\), \(\theta\) is the polar angle of \((x,y)\), and \(h\) is a positive constant which is called the delay angle of the system (2.1). By setting \(x(\theta)=r(\theta)\cos{\theta}\) and \(y(\theta)=r(\theta)\sin{\theta}\), the system (2.1) changes into \[ \frac{dr}{d\theta}=r(\theta)g(\theta,r(\theta-h)), \tag{E} \] where \(\theta\) is a function that depends only on \(t\), and \[ g(\theta,u)=\frac{P\left(u\cos{(\theta-h)},u\sin{(\theta-h)}\right)\cos{\theta}+Q\left(u\cos{(\theta-h)},u\sin{(\theta-h)}\right)\sin{\theta}}{Q\left(u\cos{(\theta-h)},u\sin{(\theta-h)}\right)\cos{\theta}-P\left(u\cos{(\theta-h)},u\sin{(\theta-h)}\right)\sin{\theta}}. \] Under some certain restrictions on \(g\), the authors find a suitable bounded set \(\Omega\subset X_T:=\{r\in C(\mathbb R,\mathbb R):r(\theta)=r(\theta+T),~\forall~\theta\in\mathbb R\}\) such that the Brouwer degree, associates with the equation (E), is well-defined and not equal to zero. Then Mawhin's continuation theorem implies the existence of periodic orbits. The main result of this paper reads. Theorem. Suppose that \(g\) is continuous and bounded on \(\mathfrak{R}:=[0,2\pi]\times[0,+\infty)\), and that there are \(0<u_0\le u_1\) such that for any \(\theta\in[0,2\pi]\), \(g(\theta,u)>0\) (or \(<0\)) when \(u<u_0\); and \(g(\theta,u)<0\) (or \(>0\)) when \(s>u_1\). Then the system (2.1) has at least one periodic orbit surrounding the origin.