Piecewise bounded quadratic systems in the plane (Q2634249)

The paper deals with the two-dimesional piecewise differential system (or non-smooth system) \[ \dot x=\begin{cases} X(x), \quad\text{if }f(x)\geq 0,\\ Y(x),\quad\text{if }f(x)\leq 0,\end{cases} \] where \(f:\Omega\subset \mathbb{R}^2\to \mathbb{R}\) has \(0\) as a regular value. Here \(X,\,Y:\Omega\to\mathbb{R}^2\) are of class \(C^r\) (\(r\geq 1\)) and they are bounded quadratic vector fields in the plane. The authors study the dynamics of the system on the switching manifold \(\Sigma=\{x,\,\,f(x)=0\}\). They prove that there exist bounded quadratic vector fields \(X\) and \(Y\) such that \(Z=(X,Y)\) is unbounded. If \(Z\) is a non-smooth vector field with \(X\) and \(Y\) bounded quadratic, the authors give sufficient conditions on the coefficients of the linear parts of \(X\) and \(Y\) which ensure that \(Z\) is bounded, by analyzing the singular, crossing and sliding sets. As an application, the mass-spring system under the action of a force with different intensities is also investigated.