Abel Equations: Composition Conjectures and the Model Problem (Q4487671)

We consider the Abel equation \[ {dy\over dx}= p(x) y^2+ q(x) y^3,\qquad a\leq x\leq b,\tag{1} \] where \(p\) and \(q\) are polynomials and \(a\) is a fixed constant. We denote the solution to (1) by \(y(x,c)\), where \(y(a, c)= c\). If \(y(b,c)\equiv c\) for all \(c\) close to \(0\) we say that the system has a centre between \(a\) and \(b\). The composition conjecture states that if we have a centre then the polynomials \[ P(x)= \int^x_0 p(\xi)\,d\xi,\qquad Q(x)= \int^x_a q(\xi)\,d\xi, \] are both polynomials of a polynomial \(A\) with \(A(a)= A(b)\). We prove the composition conjecture under the condition that \(q\) has at most a simple zero in \((a,b)\) and does not vanish at \(a\) or \(b\). The model problem is a subproblem of the above. Here, we put \(\varepsilon q\) for \(q\) in (1) and ask for all parametric centres. We prove that the composition conjecture holds in this case under the assumption that \(p(a)\) and \(p(b)\) are nonzero.