Primary birth of canard cycles in slow-fast codimension 3 elliptic bifurcations (Q479556)

The authors study the birth of canard trajectories at the interface between small-amplitude limit cycles and large-scale canard dynamics -- or, in their words, of ``large'' small-amplitude cycles -- in a family of planar fast-slow systems of ordinary differential equations. While canard dynamics in the plane has traditionally been considered in the context of a codimension-1 Hopf bifurcation [\textit{M. Krupa} and \textit{P. Szmolyan}, J. Differ. Equations 174, No. 2, 312--368 (2001; Zbl 0994.34032)], they assume a singularity of codimension 3 that is unfolded by three parameters in addition to the singular perturbation parameter. Correspondingly, two blow-up transformations [the third author, NATO Adv. Sci. inst. Ser. C Math. Phys. Sci. 408, 19--73 (1993; Zbl 0791.58069)] are performed, a ``primary'' one to unfold the singularity and a ``secondary'' one to resolve the resulting fast-slow structure; the study thereof is greatly facilitated by the introduction of appropriate normal forms [\textit{P. Bonckaert} et al., J. Dyn. Differ. Equations 23, No. 1, 115--139 (2011; Zbl 1215.34042)]. Finally, the authors determine the cyclicity of the limit periodic set in the vicinity of which the birth of canard cycles occurs. The requisite analysis, which is based on the authors' previous publication [J. Differ. Equations 255, No. 11, 4012--4051 (2013; Zbl 1316.34060)], is performed with great care, and is presented in detail, making the presentation largely self-contained. Significantly, their results hence contribute towards a complete characterisation of codimension-3 singularities in planar fast-slow systems; moreover, they may generalise to other settings. Given its technical character, it seems unsurprising that the article should preferably be read in its entirety for its facets to be fully appreciated.