The period function for second-order quadratic ODEs is monotone

Very little is known about the period function for large families of centers. In one of the pioneering works on this problem, Chicone [?] conjectured that all the centers encountered in the family of second-order differential equations ¨x = V (x, ˙ x), being V a quadratic polynomial, should have a monotone period function. Chicone solved some of the cases but some others remain still unsolved. In this paper we fill up these gaps by using a new technique based on the existence of Lie symmetries and presented in [?]. This technique can be used as well to reprove all the cases that were already solved, providing in this way a compact proof for all the quadratic second-order differential equations. We also prove that this property on the period function is no longer true when V is a polynomial which nonlinear part is homogeneous of degree n > 2

Global phase portraits of uniform isochronous centers with quartic homogeneous polynomial nonlinearities

Agraïments: The first author is is supported by a Ciência sem Fronteiras-CNPq grant number 201002/ 2012-4. A CAPES grant number 88881.030454/2013-01 from the program CSF-PVEWe classify the global phase portraits in the Poincar\'e disc of the differential systems =-y xf(x,y), =x yf(x,y), where f(x,y) is a homogeneous polynomial of degree 3. These systems have a uniform isochronous center at the origin. This paper together with the results presented in IL2 completes the classification of the global phase portraits in the Poincar\'e disc of all quartic polynomial differential systems with a uniform isochronous center at the origin

A new result on averaging theory for a class of discontinuous planar differential systems with applications

Altres ajuts: ICREA AcademiaWe develop the averaging theory at any order for computing the periodic solutions of periodic discontinuous piecewise differential system of the form dr/dθ= r'={F+(θ, r, ϵ) if 0≤ θ ≤ α, F-(θ, r, ϵ) if α ≤ θ ≤ 2π, where F±(θ, r, ϵ) = Σk i=1 ϵiF± i (θ, r) + ϵk+1R ± (θ, r, ϵ) with θ ϵ S and r ϵ D, where D is an open interval of ℝ+, and ϵ is a small real parameter. Applying this theory, we provide lower bounds for the maximum number of limit cycles that bifurcate from the origin of quartic polynomial differential systems of the form x = -y+xp(x, y), y = x+yp(x, y), with p(x, y) a polynomial of degree 3 without constant term, when they are perturbed, either inside the class of all continuous quartic polynomial differential systems, or inside the class of all discontinuous piecewise quartic polynomial differential systems with two zones separated by the straight line y = 0

The period function of generalized Loud's centers

Agraïments: The first author is partially supported by the DGES/FEDER grant MTM2011-26674-C02-01.In this paper a three parameter family of planar differential systems with homogeneous nonlinearities of arbitrary odd degree is studied. This family is an extension to higher degree of the Loud's systems. The origin is a nondegenerate center for all values of the parameter and we are interested in the qualitative properties of its period function. We study the bifurcation diagram of this function focusing our attention on the bifurcations occurring at the polycycle that bounds the period annulus of the center. Moreover we determine some regions in the parameter space for which the corresponding period function is monotonous or it has at least one critical period, giving also its character (maximum or minimum). Finally we propose a complete conjectural bifurcation diagram of the period function of these generalized Loud's centers

Applications of dynamical systems with symmetry

This thesis examines the application of symmetric dynamical systems theory to two areas in applied mathematics: weakly coupled oscillators with symmetry, and bifurcations in flame front equations. After a general introduction in the first chapter, chapter 2 develops a theoretical framework for the study of identical oscillators with arbitrary symmetry group under an assumption of weak coupling. It focusses on networks with 'all to all' Sn coupling. The structure imposed by the symmetry on the phase space for weakly coupled oscillators with Sn, Zn or Dn symmetries is discussed, and the interaction of internal symmetries and network symmetries is shown to cause decoupling under certain conditions. Chapter 3 discusses what this implies for generic dynamical behaviour of coupled oscillator systems, and concentrates on application to small numbers of oscillators (three or four). We find strong restrictions on bifurcations, and structurally stable heteroclinic cycles. Following this, chapter 4 reports on experimental results from electronic oscillator systems and relates it to results in chapter 3. In a forced oscillator system, breakdown of regular motion is observed to occur through break up of tori followed by a symmetric bifurcation of chaotic attractors to fully symmetric chaos. Chapter 5 discusses reduction of a system of identical coupled oscillators to phase equations in a weakly coupled limit, considering them as weakly dissipative Hamiltonian oscillators with very weakly coupling. This provides a derivation of example phase equations discussed in chapter 2. Applications are shown for two van der Pol-Duffing oscillators in the case of a twin-well potential. Finally, we turn our attention to the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation. Chapter 6 starts by discussing flame front equations in general, and non-linear models in particular. The Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation on a rectangular domain with simple boundary conditions is found to be an example of a large class of systems whose linear behaviour gives rise to arbitrarily high order mode interactions. Chapter 7 presents computation of some of these mode interactions using competerised Liapunov-Schmidt reduction onto the kernel of the linearisation, and investigates the bifurcation diagrams in two parameters

Rendiconti dell'Istituto di Matematica dell'Università di Trieste. An International Journal of Mathematics. Vol. 44 (2012)

Rendiconti dell’Istituto di Matematica dell’Università di Trieste was founded in 1969 by Arno Predonzan, with the aim of publishing original research articles in all fields of mathematics and has been the first Italian mathematical journal to be published also on-line. The access to the electronic version of the journal is free. All published articles are available on-line. The journal can be obtained by subscription, or by reciprocity with other similar journals. Currently more than 100 exchange agreements with mathematics departments and institutes around the world have been entered in