Limit cycle bifurcations by perturbing a cuspidal loop in a Hamiltonian system (Q2378186)

This paper considers limit cycle bifurcations of the analytic system \[ \begin{aligned} &\dot x=H_y + \varepsilon p(x,y, \varepsilon, \delta) \\ &\dot y=-H_x+\varepsilon q(x,y, \varepsilon, \delta), \end{aligned} \] a perturbation of a planar Hamiltonian system. If the unperturbed system \(\dot x=H_y\), \(\dot y=-H_x\) has a family \(L_h\) of periodic orbits defined by the equation \(H(x,y)=h\), which is bounded by a center and a homoclinic (heteroclinic) loop, then one usually considers the number of limit cycles of the perturbed system either near the center or near the loop by discussing zeros of the Melnikov function \[ M(h,\delta)=\oint_{L_{h}} q\,dx - p\,dy | _{\varepsilon=0}. \] Let the critical point of the boundary homoclinic loop be the origin \(O\), a hyperbolic saddle. Without loss of generality, suppose that \[ H(x,y)=\tfrac{1}{2}y^2-\tfrac{1}{2}x^2 +\sum_{i+j\geq 3} h_{ij}x^iy^j \] for \((x,y)\) near \(O\) and \(L_h\) exists for \(0<-h\ll1\). \textit{R. Roussarie} [Bol. Soc. Bras. Mat. 17, No. 1, 67--101 (1986; Zbl 0628.34032)] gave the following expansion \[ M(h,\delta)=\sum_{j\geq 0}(c_{2j}+c_{2j+1}h\log | h| )h^j, \] where \(c_j\)'s are functions of \(\delta\). When the critical point \(O\) is non-hyperbolic, we have \[ H(x,y)=\tfrac{1}{2}y^2 +\sum_{i+j\geq 3} h_{ij}x^iy^j =\tfrac{1}{2}y^2 +h_{30}x^3 + O(x^4+| y| | x,y| ^2). \] When \(h_{30}\neq 0\), the homoclinic loop \(L_0\) is called a cuspidal loop because \(O\) is a cusp of the unperturbed system. In general it is actually the limit case of a double homoclinic loop. In this paper the authors consider such a case, where \(O\) is a nilpotent cusp, and study the problem of limit cycle bifurcation near \(L_0\) towards the following questions: (i) What kind of expansions do the Melnikov functions permit in general at \(h=0\) for \(0<\pm h<<1\)? (ii) What are the formulas for the first coefficients of the expansions and how do we use the coefficients to find limit cycles in a neighborhood of the loop \(L_0\)?