Stability of singular limit cycles for Abel equations revisited

TL;DR

This paper establishes a criterion for the semi-stability of singular positive limit cycles in Abel equations, providing upper bounds on their number and illustrating results with specific polynomial and trigonometric cases.

Contribution

It introduces a new criterion for semi-stability of singular limit cycles in Abel equations, enabling bounds on their maximum number and applications to polynomial and trigonometric cases.

Findings

Upper bound of two positive limit cycles for specific polynomial Abel equations.

Upper bound of two limit cycles in the trigonometric case under certain conditions.

Criterion for semi-stability of singular positive limit cycles.

Abstract

A criterion is obtained for the semi-stability of the isolated singular positive closed solutions, i.e., singular positive limit cycles, of the Abel equation $x'=A(t)x^3+B(t)x^2$, where $A,B$ are smooth functions with two zeros in the interval $[0,T]$ and where these singular positive limit cycles satisfy certain conditions, which allows an upper bound on the number of limit cycles of the Abel equation to be obtained. The criterion is illustrated by obtaining an upper bound of two positive limit cycles for the family $A(t)=t(t-t_A)$, $B(t)=(t-t_B)(t-1)$, $t\in[0,1]$. In the linear trigonometric case, i.e., when $A(t)=a_0+a_1\sin t +a_2\cos t$, $B(t)=b_0+b_1\sin t+b_2 \cos t$, an upper bound of two limit cycles is also obtained for $a_0,b_0$ sufficiently small and in the region where two positive limit cycles bifurcate from the origin.