Abelian integrals in unfoldings of codimension 3 singularities with nilpotent linear parts (Q504906)

The paper is concerned with the upper bound of the number of limit cycles in unfolding of codimension 3 planar singularities with nilpotent linear part \[ \dot x = y,\, \dot y = \alpha x^3 + xy \pm x^2y, \,\alpha \in \mathbb{R} \setminus \{0, -\tfrac{1}{8}\}. \eqno(1) \] Żołądek reduced the three-parameters deformation of the vector field (1) with \(\alpha> 0\) and \(-\tfrac{1}{8}<\alpha<0\) to the small polynomial perturbations of a one-parameter family of quadratic reversible systems \[ \dot x = -1 + y + ax^2 + \varepsilon_1 x + \varepsilon_2 x^3, \,\dot y = -2xy -\varepsilon_3 - \varepsilon_4 x^2 - \varepsilon_5 x^4, \, a \in (-1,1) \setminus \{0\}, \eqno(2) \] where \(2\alpha = a(a-1)^{-2}\) and \(\varepsilon = (\varepsilon_1, \ldots, \varepsilon_5)\) is a small perturbation parameter. The unperturbed vector field (2) with \(\varepsilon = 0\) has the simple center \(C=(0,1)\) and the first integral \(H\) given by the formula \(H(x,y) = |a|(a+1)y^a (x^2 +y/(a+1) - 1/a)\) in the semiplane \(y \geq 0\), which has a local minimum at \(C\). There exists a punctured neighborhood of \(C\) foliated by ovals \(\gamma_h\) that are the compact components of level curves \(\{H(x,y)=h\}\) parameterized by the energy levels \(h \in (1,+\infty)\) for \(-1<a<0\) (elliptic case) and \(h \in (-1,0)\) for \(0<a<1\) (saddle case). One of important problems for system (2) is to estimate the number of zeros of the following Abelian integrals \[ I(h) = \alpha I_0(h) + \beta I_1(h) + \gamma I_2(h),\,I_i(h) = \oint_{\gamma_h} y^{a-2} x^{2i+1} \, dy, \] for all \(\alpha, \beta, \gamma\) not equal to zero simultaneously. This determines the maximum number of limit cycles for the generic unfolding of codimension 3 singularities with nilpotent linear part. As the parameter \(a \in (-1,1) \setminus \{0\}\) is rational (except the case \(a= -\tfrac{2}{3}\)), based on the Chebyshev criterion for Abelian integrals and a rationalizing transformation, the problem could be solved theoretically, with the help of computer algebraic systems. To illustrate this approach, the authors consider two representative values of the parameter: \(a=\tfrac{1}{2}\) (the saddle case) and \(a=-\tfrac{1}{2}\) (the elliptic case). They proved that for \(a=\tfrac{1}{2}\) (resp., \(a=-\tfrac{1}{2}\)) the Abelian integral \(I(h)\) has at most two isolated zeros (counted with multiplicities) at any compact interval of \((-1,0)\) (resp., \((1,+\infty)\)), and the upper bound of the number of limit cycles is two.