Limit cycle bifurcation from center in symmetric piecewise-linear systems

The rapid bifurcation described by Kriegsmann [1987] is shown to be a generic bifurcation for planar symmetric piecewise-linear systems. The bifurcation can be responsible for the abrupt appearance of stable periodic oscillations. Although it has some similarities with the Hopf bifurcation for smooth systems, since the stability change of an equilibrium involves the appearance of one limit cycle, the dependence of the limit cycle amplitude on the bifurcation parameter is different from the Hopf's case. To characterize this bifurcation, accurate estimates for the amplitude and period of the bifurcating limit cycle are given. The analysis is just illustrated with the application of the theoretical results to the Wien bridge oscillator. Comparisons with experimental data and Kriegsmann's analysis are also included.