No label defined (Q4394633)

Consider the Liénard system \[ dx/dt= y-F(x), \qquad dy/dt =-x \tag \(*\) \] where \(F\) is an odd polynomial. Let \(f_n (x,y)= y^n + \sum^n_{i=1} g_{n-i} (x) y^{n-i}\). The functions \(g_k (x)\) are determined in such a way that the derivative of \(f_n\) with respect to \((*)\) represents an even polynomial \(R_n (x)\). Let \(m\) be the number of limit cycles of \((*)\) and \(r_n\) the number of positive roots of \(R_n (x)\). The authors conjecture: (i) \(m\leq r_n\) for all even \(n\), (ii) if \(n' >n\) then \(r_n -r_{n'} = 2l\) with \(l \in \mathbb{N}\). For the entire collection see [Zbl 0884.00032].