Zero-Hopf bifurcation of limit cycles in certain differential systems

This paper studies the number of limit cycles that may bifurcate from an equilibrium of an autonomous system of differential equations. The system in question is assumed to be of dimension n, have a zero-Hopf equilibrium at the origin, and consist only of homogeneous terms of order m. Denote by $H_k(n,m)$ the maximum number of limit cycles of the system that can be detected by using the averaging method of order k. We prove that $H_1(n,m)\le (m-1)\cdot m^{n-2}$ and $H_k(n,m)\le {\left(km\right)}^{n-1}$ for generic $n\ge 3$, $m\ge 2$ and $k>1$. The exact numbers of $H_k(n,m)$ or tight bounds on the numbers are determined by computing the mixed volumes of some polynomial systems obtained from the averaged functions. Based on symbolic and algebraic computation, a general and algorithmic approach is proposed to derive sufficient conditions for a given differential system to have a prescribed number of limit cycles. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is illustrated by a family of third-order differential equations, a four-dimensional hyperchaotic differential system and a model of nuclear spin generator.