Analysis on limit cycles of \(Z_{q}\)-equivariant polynomial vector fields with degree 3 or 4 (Q2497381)

The authors present a study of the limit cycles of \(Z_{q}\)-equivariant polynomial vector fields with degree~3 or~4. Previous studies have shown that when \(q=2,\) cubic-order systems can have 12 small amplitude limit cycles. Particular attention of this paper is focused on the cases \(q\geq3.\) It is shown that for cubic-order systems, when \(q=3\), there exist 3~small limit cycles and one~big limit cycle; while for \(q=4,\) it has 4~small limit cycles and one~big limit cycle; and when \(q\geq5,\) there is only one~small limit cycle. For fourth-order systems, the cases of even~\(q\) are the same as for the cubic-order systems. When \(q=5\) it can have 10~small limit cycles; while for \(q\geq7,\) there exists only one~small limit cycle. The case \(q=3\) is not considered in this paper. Numerical simulations are presented to illustrate the theoretical results.