Asymptotic Methods for Relaxation Oscillations and Applications

In various fields of science, notably in physics and biology, one is con­ fronted with periodic phenomena having a remarkable temporal structure: it is as if certain systems are periodically reset in an initial state. A paper of Van der Pol in the Philosophical Magazine of 1926 started up the investigation of this highly nonlinear type of oscillation for which Van der Pol coined the name "relaxati...