Center conditions and bifurcation of limit cycles at degenerate singular points in a quintic polynomial differential system

The center problem and bifurcation of limit cycles for degenerate singular points are far to be solved in general. In this paper, we study center conditions and bifurcation of limit cycles at the degenerate singular point in a class of quintic polynomial vector field with a small parameter and eight normal parameters. We deduce a recursion formula for singular point quantities at the degenerate singular points in this system and reach with relative ease an expression of the first five quantities at the degenerate singular point. The center conditions for the degenerate singular point of this system are derived. Consequently, we construct a quintic system, which can bifurcates 5 limit cycles in the neighborhood of the degenerate singular point. The positions of these limit cycles can be pointed out exactly without constructing Poincare cycle fields. The technique employed in this work is essentially different from more usual ones. The recursion formula we present in this paper for the calculation of singular point quantities at degenerate singular point is linear and then avoids complex integrating operations. (C) 2004 Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.