Seeking Darboux polynomials (Q499743)

Consider the polynomial autonomous differential system \[ \dot{x}=(P_1(x), \dots, P_n(x)) \eqno{(\star)} \] in \(\mathbb{R}^n\) of degree \(d \in \mathbb{N}\). We say that \(f\in \mathbb{C}[x]\) is a \textit{Darboux polynomial} of this system if there exists a polynomial \(K \in\mathbb{C}[x]\) of degree at most \(d-1\), called the cofactor of \(f\), such that \[ X(f)= (P_1(x), \dots, P_n(x))\nabla f = Kf. \] In this paper, the authors present two techniques to simplify the general expression of the cofactors of the Darboux polynomials of the system \((\star)\). The first one consists of using changes of variables given by some birational maps, the so called (quasi) monomial maps. These changes, together with a suitable time parametrization, transform polynomial differential systems (resp. Darboux polynomials) into polynomial differential systems (resp. Darboux polynomials). The cofactor, which is polynomial, is to be sent to a polynomial function. The second technique shows that the cofactor inherits the symmetries of the vector field. They illustrate these techniques applying to several differential systems and conclude this paper by studying the existence of Darboux polynomials and limit cycles for the family of potential equations \[ \ddot{x}=V(x,\dot{x})=ax+b\dot{x}+c\dot{x}^{d-1}, \] where \(a,b,c \in \mathbb{R}\) and \(d\in \mathbb{N}\), \(d>1\).