Symmetric systems of van der Pol equations (Q2471486)

The authors study the impact of symmetries on the occurrence of a periodic solution in systems of van der Pol equations. To study the existence of periodic solutions they extend the approach introduced by \textit{N. Hirano} and \textit{S. Rybicki} [J. Differ. Equations 195, No. 1, 194--209 (2003; Zbl 1045.34010)] using the primary \(G\)-equivariant degree theory, where \(G=\Gamma\times S^1\), \(\Gamma\) denoted the symmetry group of the studied system. For this purpose algebraic computational formulae for the primary equivariant degree are developed. Then a general existence theorem for symmetric van der Pol systems is proved. Also several particular cases of the group symmetry of the studied symmetry \(\Gamma\) are considered. The authors present computations of the \(A(\Gamma)\)-module structure of \(A_1(\Gamma\times S^1)\), the isotropy lattices for the irreducible representations of the \(\Gamma\times S^1\), the computations of the \(\Gamma\times S^1\)-degree of the related basic maps for the symmetries of the dihedral, tetrahedral, octahedral and icosahedral groups. These computations are used to classify the symmetry types of different periodic solutions occurring in the van der Pol systems with \(\Gamma\)-symmetries. Thus, the approach of the authors, based on symmetric spectral properties of the linearized system, gives the possibility directly to detect and to classify, according to their symmetry properties, the occurrence of periodic solutions in \(\Gamma\)-symmetric dynamical systems.