Irreducibility of the Picard-Fuchs equation related to the Lotka-Volterra polynomial \(x^2y^2(1-x-y)\)
The purpose of the present note is to study in detail the monodromy representation of the Lotka-Volterra polynomial \[ H(x,y)=x^p y^p(1- x -y), \] when \(p\) is an integer. The knowledge of this monodromy representation allows, according to [\textit{M. Bobieński} et al. Nonlinearity 24, No. 2, 373--388 (2011; Zbl 1232.34115)], to compute the minimal degree of the differential equation satisfied by the Abelian integrals \[ I(h) = \alpha \int_{H(x,y)=h} x^{p+1} y^p dx + \beta \int_{H(x,y)=h} x^{p-1} y^p dx . \] The author proves that the Zarisky closure of the monodromy group of the polynomial \(x^2 y^2 (1-x-y)\) is the symplectic group Sp\((4, \mathbb{C})\). This is related to some previous results in [\textit{S. A. van Gils} et al, in Multiparameter bifurcation theory, Proc. AMS--IMS--SIAM Joint Summer Res. Conf., Arcata/Calif. 1985, Contemp. Math. 56, 117--129 (1986; Zbl 0595.34032)]. The computation of the monodromy is achieved by a very geometric method.
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