Stable piecewise polynomial vector fields

Abstract

Consider in R^2 the semi-planes N={y>0} and S={y<0}$ having as common boundary the straight line D={y=0}$. In N and S are defined polynomial vector fields X and Y, respectively, leading to a discontinuous piecewise polynomial vector field Z=(X,Y). This work pursues the stability and the transition analysis of solutions of Z between N and S, started by Filippov (1988) and Kozlova (1984) and reformulated by Sotomayor-Teixeira (1995) in terms of the regularization method. This method consists in analyzing a one parameter family of continuous vector fields Z_{\epsilon}$, defined by averaging X and Y. This family approaches Z when the parameter goes to zero. The results of Sotomayor-Teixeira and Sotomayor-Machado (2002) providing conditions on (X,Y) for the regularized vector fields to be structurally stable on planar compact connected regions are extended to discontinuous piecewise polynomial vector fields on R^2. Pertinent genericity results for vector fields satisfying the above stability conditions are also extended to the present case. A procedure for the study of discontinuous piecewise vector fields at infinity through a compactification is proposed here.