Limit cycles appearing from a generalized heteroclinic loop with a cusp and a nilpotent saddle (Q2232748)

The paper deals with the switching planar quadratic-cubic system \[\begin{array}{lll}\dot{x}=y, & \dot{y}= a_0+a_1x+a_2x^2, &x<0,\\ \dot{x}=y, & \dot{y}= b_0+b_1x+b_2x^2+b_3x^3, &x\geq 0, \end{array}\] with \(a_2b_3\neq 0\), assuming that there is respectively a cusp and a nilpotent saddle at the origin. Authors' aim is to study the system obtained by small one-parameter perturbations of the initial one inside the class of polynomial switching systems of degree \(n\). Thorough investigation of the possible phase pictures and the bifurcation of limit cycles near the loops (by using the first-order Melnikov method) is then provided. In particular, an estimate from below of \(3n-1\) on the number of limit cycles near the loop is obtained.