A class of quadratic system with six limit cycles (Q286362)

The authors first investigate degenerate Hopf bifurcation of three-dimensional vector fields with two imaginary eigenvalues at the origin which is an equilibrium. For this purpose, they apply the so-called method of singular values recently introduced by Wang et al. (2010). These singular values are closely related to the focal values of the two-dimensional system that is obtained by reducing the given vector field to its center manifold at the origin: The focal values, being the coefficients of the first return map, can successively be expressed as linear combinations of the singular values. Next, these results are applied to an explicit three-dimensional quadratic vector field with two parameters. There are two equilibria at which, owing to a given symmetry, simultaneously degenerate Hopf bifurcations may occur. The authors use computer algebra to compute the first three singular values that yield the first three focal values. As a consequence, they prove the existence of parameters such that, from both equilibria, there bifurcate three limit cycles, two of which are stable.