A note on higher order Melnikov functions (Q2468836)

The paper comments some facts related to the weakened 16th Hilbert's problem about limit cycles. The authors deal with small polynomial perturbations of Hamiltonian systems in the plane \(dH-\varepsilon \omega=0\) such that the first displacement map near a periodic orbit of the unperturbed system is of the form \(\Delta H=\varepsilon^kM_k(h)+O(\varepsilon^{k+1})\), with \(k>1\). They discuss the form of \(M_k(h)\) and present several examples (some of them new) where \(M_k\) is an Abelian integral or not. The second case may occur e.g. in the presence of symmetry. One can find a further result in this field in the very recent preprint of \textit{C. Christopher} and \textit{P. Mardešić} [Monodromy and tangential center problems, \url{arXiv:0803.2110}].