A necessary and sufficient condition on algebraic limit cycles of a hybrid van der Pol-Rayleigh oscillator (Q6595381)

In this paper, the authors investigate the existence of irreducible invariant algebraic curves of a hybrid van der Pol-Rayleigh oscillator given by: \N\[\N\frac{d x}{dt}=y, \quad \frac{d y}{dt}=-x-\alpha y-\beta y^3-x^2 y,\N\]\Nwhere \((\alpha, \beta)\in \mathbb{R}^2\). They prove that the system has no irreducible invariant algebraic curves in \(\mathbb{C}[x, y]\) except for \((\alpha, \beta)=(0, -1)\), or \(\alpha^2=-\beta-1/\beta+2\) (\(\beta\neq 0\)) or \(\alpha\neq 0\), \(\beta=1\). The oscillator has only one irreducible invariant algebraic curve in \(\mathbb{C}[x, y]\) when \((\alpha, \beta)=(0, -1)\), or \(\alpha^2=-\beta-1/\beta+2\) for \(\beta< 0\), or \(\alpha\in \mathbb{R}\), \(\beta=1\). Combining these results with earlier results, they show that the hybrid van der Pol-Rayleigh oscillator has an algebraic limit cycle if and only if \(\beta=1\) and \(\alpha<0\).