Limit cycle bifurcation by perturbing a cuspidal loop of order 2 in a Hamiltonian system (Q412647)

The paper studies analytical properties of the first Melnikov function for general planar Hamiltonian systems possessing a cuspidal loop of order 2. In particular, the expansion of the Melnikov function is obtained and explicit formulas for the first coefficient of the expansion are given. It is shown that under certain conditions at least 13 limit cycles can bifurcate from the cuspidal loop of order 2. For some Liénard and Hamiltonian systems, the cyclicity of a cuspidal loop is found and the number of limit cycles that can bifurcate from the perturbed system is determined. The results obtained relate to the well-known Hilbert-Arnold problem on the maximum cyclicity of nontrivial polycycles.