On the multiplicity of algebraic limit cycles (Q715722)

The present paper is devoted to the problem of determining the multiplicity of the unit circle as a periodic orbit of the planar differential system \[ \dot{x}=-y+f(x, y)a(x, y), \;\dot{y}=x+f(x, y)b(x, y), \] where \(f(x, y)=x^2+y^2-1\) and \(a\), \(b\) are real polynomials of the variables \(x\) and \(y\). It is shown that the conditions of multiplicity can be solved almost in algebraic way. There are parameters on which these conditions depend transcendentally, as happens in the degenerate center-focus problem. The authors present several examples for which these conditions can be computed.