On center sets of ODEs determined by moments of their coefficients (Q2490037)

Consider an ordinary differential equation of the form \[ \frac{dv}{dx} \, = \, \sum_{i=1}^{\infty} a_i(w,x) v^{i+1}, \tag{*} \] where the coefficients \(a_i(w,x)\) and the parameters \(w\) satisfy certain conditions to ensure a well-defined solution to a given initial condition, and the equation is \(T\) periodic in \(x\) for a certain given positive period \(T\). We say that this equation has a center for a certain \(w\), if every solution \(v\) with a sufficiently small initial value satisfies \(v(T)=v(0)\). The center problem consists in characterize the values of \(w\) such that the equation has a center, and such values of \(w\) are called the center set. This paper deals with the center problem for equation (*) restricted to the case in which all the coefficients are either polynomials in \(x\) or in \(e^{\pm 2 \pi i x/T}\). To consider the moments associated to the equation is a natural tool to tackle the center problem. The moments associated to equation (*) are defined by the following iterated integrals \[ m_{i_1, \dots, i_{k+1}}^{n_1,\dots, n_k} (a) \, := \, \int_{0}^{T} (\tilde{a}_{i_1}(s))^{n_1} \cdots (\tilde{a}_{i_k}(s))^{n_k} a_{i_{k+1}}(s) \, ds \] for all possible natural numbers \(n_1, \dots, n_k\) and \(i_1, \ldots, i_{k+1}\), where \[ \tilde{a}_i(x) \, := \, \int_{0}^{x} a_i(s) \, ds. \] This paper deals with a relation between the center conditions and the vanishing of the corresponding moments. One of the main results of the paper states that there is a finite set of moments and a finite set of holomorphic polynomials such that the center set is determined as the zero-set of the holomorphic polynomials evaluated at the moments.