Bifurcation of a Kind of 1D Piecewise Differential Equation and Its Application to Piecewise Planar Polynomial Systems

Abstract

This paper deals with a kind of piecewise smooth equation which is linear in the dependent variable. We study the problem of lower bounds for the maximum number of limit cycles of such equations using Melnikov functions. First of all, using the first order Melnikov function, we prove that these differential equations have a sharp upper bound for the number of the limit cycles which bifurcate from the periodic orbits and cross the separation straight line. Furthermore, in some cases the maximum number of these limit cycles is three, up to any order analysis. In the end, we apply this result on a kind of piecewise smooth planar system which has a separation curve with [Formula: see text] up to homomorphism.