Closed poly-trajectories and Poincaré index of non-smooth vector fields on the plane (Q360206)

The paper deals with the so-called closed poly-trajectory in the context of Filipov's theory for non-smooth planar systems of ODEs. A rather technical definition introduces the concept which is generally speaking a closed curve composed by pieces of orbits lying in the regions of continuity or determined by the sliding vector field on the corresponding switching manifold. The main results are briefly described as follows. First, necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of closed poly-trajectories are provided for a class of non-smooth vector fields. Next, it is shown that hyperbolic closed poly-trajectories are limit sets of smooth hyperbolic limit cycles. Finally, the Poincaré index theorem is generalized for non-smooth vector fields.